To Be Believed In
by Anna V
Summary: AU. Logan never thought he would fall for his student. Max never thought she would fall for her teacher. Crazy idea of mine that finally took some shape.
1. A Night in Heat

**Title: **To Be Believed In  
**Author:** Anna V.  
**Pairing:** Max/Logan  
**Summery: **AU. Logan never expected to fall for his student. Max never expected to fall for her teacher. Crazy idea of mine that finally took some shape.  
**A/N:** I'm trying to do this to the best of my writing abilities, so forgive me if some parts don't seem believable. Things will get explained in the next few chapters but it's nothing completely AU. Max is still running from Manticore. Logan isn't Eyes Only _yet_. I don't want to give too much away but I've change Max a little. She still wants nothing to do with becoming an individual but she wants to be normal as possible, and like any 18 year old, she goes to school. Please go with it.

**One - A Night In Heat**

Divorce wasn't something that he imagined occurring in his life. A part of him still loved his ex, and a part of him never did. He was confused on how he could love a woman who would break his heart in the end. The apologizes wouldn't stop coming his way. I'm so sorry, she would say. Every time another sorry was said, another crack in his heart began to show.

He wanted to forget about Valerie Cale, or the soon to be Ex-Valerie Cale. He wouldn't drink away the redhead that kept appearing on his doorstep begging forgiveness. That would be Valerie's forte. Instead, he searched for a woman he could set his eyes on. A pretty thing that would get her immediately out of his mind and allow him to start fresh.

When he entered the bar he felt like a sleaze. He knew what he was doing wasn't any better than picking up a hooker off the street. But he was still propelled through that door by the memory of his wife sleeping in his bed with another man. He told himself not to wait that long. If he couldn't find someone who was as equally attracted to him, he would go home.

But, the fates had something else planned for Logan Cale than a night of solitude.

He set his eyes on an angel. Her lovely smile kept the men flocking to her but it was those brown eyes that mystified him. As soon as Logan's heart stopped at the gorgeous sight of his lovely angel, her chocolate eyes met his. She immediately dismissed them and sauntered over. Logan watched as her hips swayed provocatively before she licked her full lips to entice him. Every seducing movement she made, he fell ten times under her spell.

The black curls fell back from her rosy, round face when she looked up at him. Just that lick of her tongue on those plump lips sent him over the edge.

"Wanna get out of here?" She leaned up and began to breath deeply on the stubble of his neck. Logan shivered at her hot breath and thank God for making a girl _that _beautiful and just happened be at _that_ bar. The heavens must have been shining on him suddenly. All he could do is smile down at her with a boyish grin and comply with _anything_ she wanted.

"I'll take you to my apartment." Logan automatically offered. She purred at his offer. God, she _purred._ Logan could barely wait after that. He lowered his head and took those teasing lips she kept licking and slid his tongue between them. Like heaven, Logan thought. She was like an angel. Just by kissing her, the girl automatically pressed her body against him. Logan moaned before his arms automatically came to his hips and encouraged the dark angel to press just a little more.

He parted from her lips. "You should be careful, I could be that murderer on the loose." Logan teased her as his hands began to caress the curve of her hip.

"I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself." She flirted back. Her hands lifted up his shirt and began to scratch at his warm skin. "Your apartment." She reminded with a sassy smile. Logan automatically led her out of the bar, thankful he didn't have to stay long in that disgusting building. He wondered why such a beautiful girl would be in such a sleazy bar. Of course, the girl was all over him, but Logan wasn't complaining. In fact, he was encouraging her.

The girl hardly made it possible for him to drive. She teased him with her tongue and tickled his ear with her breath. She was amazing, nothing of the modest and insecure women he had met around the social circles of Seattle elite. When they made it to his apartment she hardly remarked about his wealth. She didn't care that he lived in the high-rise section, or that he owned the penthouse, or equally loaded in the bank. Instead, all she cared about was how fast he was going to take off her jeans.

As his apartment door closed, she immediately pounced on him and wrapped her legs around his waist. He did the best to keep her up until he pressed her against the wall. He kissed her neck, moving her hair out of the way he began to nip at her lovely skin. His eyes saw the mark on the back of her neck.

A barcode.

Nothing connected in his head yet, not when she was pressing against him so cunningly. All Logan wanted to do was to thank her for being there, choosing him, and making him feel this wanted again.

Logan managed to push her into the bedroom and they both landed on the mattress with a thud. He laughed as the lamp fell on the floor, but no laughter came from the girl. Instead, she ripped off her shirt and threw it across the room. Logan went wild when all he saw was the little black bra that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Absolutely nothing.

Logan began to question her when she literally ripped off his shirt. She was animalistic and dangerous, and he loved it. Still, something wasn't right. That dark mystery around her concerned him. But, the question automatically flew out of his head as fast as she got his pants off. Who ever she was, she was good.

"What's you name?" Logan asked breathlessly as the girl's lips began to turn blue from all the kisses and nips at his skin. He cupped her face as she threw back her head, elongating her lovely neck and the curves of her chest.

"Max. My name's Max."

Logan smiled before his lips. His angel had a name.

They looked at each other and for a short moment, Max was taken out of her heat-crazed frenzy. Her black eyes looked up at his and knew there was a moment of control. She could say yes or no, he wouldn't care. All he wanted was her, and she wanted that the most. She would remember that very moment for the rest of her life.

In that moment, Manticore lost. She found herself in another man's eyes and not her own self-loathing reflection. For once, she felt something different than a killer, a whore, or a soldier. She felt accepted.

She told herself it would be good if she left. However, she stayed.

Not because she was a victim of her genes, but because she wanted to.

-----------------------

"Logan, you saved my ass." Andrew told him. "You won't regret it, Logan, I promise. I'll find some way to make it up to you."

"No need. I'm happy to help." Logan said groggily before he massaged his shoulder. Andrew looked up at his good friend from Yale and smiled like he was nineteen-year-old fraternity brother.

"Hungover."

"I wish." Logan replied. He wasn't hungover, but he still felt like he was hit by an oncoming train a night before. He remembered the dark beauty that seduced her way into his life. Valerie seemed a million miles away now. All he could think about was _her. _She affected him with those piercing dark eyes and the darkness that eluded her.

He still couldn't forget the sadness that he felt sleeping against her. Her sadness that had crept into his bones as she closed her eyes and allowed him to hold her. When he woke up, his angel was gone. The girl gave him his heart back. She made him feel again. If only she was still besides him to thank with breakfast.

"Midterms are coming up and if we go decrease even to a minus, we'll loose all funding. We need it, especially now that the Mayor has halved the education budget." Andrew explained as he escorted him down the hall of the reconstructed high school. It used to be a prep school before the pulse, but it had been shut down for nearly a decade before Andrew reopened it to the public district. Now families bribed their way to live in the district so their children could attend his school. "Everyone is still mourning Cynthia. I hope they get that guy soon."

Logan knew it was going to take the mayor's death before the Seattle police would get of their lazy bums and do anything about it. "I send my sympathies," Logan replied.

"Thanks." Andrew said gratefully. He automatically dismissed it, knowing he had a school to run. "I'll never find anyone as smart as you. I really think you can change these kids lives. It would only be for the rest of the year. Even shorter if I can find someone sooner."

"Okay, Andrew, enough with the flattery." Still, Logan was awkward about this situation. He had never been a teacher, nor would he ever consider being one. Freelance journalism was good to him as of lately. He had grown in contacts and reliable sources. He happened to uncover major city conspiracies. Still, he still didn't feel like he was making a huge difference. Maybe this was opportunity Logan had been waiting for.

"You're going to love your curriculum. It's basic government, political science 101. You're in charge of basic debate and current event study. This is where the real change happens for these kids." Andrew smiled proudly as he stood outside of the door. "You're ready?"

Logan shrugged. "More than I'll ever be."

When he entered the room he didn't realize what he was getting himself into. As Andrew introduced him, Logan looked upon each of the kids faces. They might have been younger than him, but they would soon be adults with the power to change the world if they believed they could. All he wanted to do was give them that encouragement.

But when he saw the dark, hollow eyes of his angel among the crowd, he nearly fainted. She looked as shock, pale, and frightened as he must have. The girl could have possible looked even lovelier in daylight, but her eyes remained the same sullen orbs he remembered them to be. She was like a porcelain doll, waiting to be played with and hoping to be loved.

If only he could have shown him how loved she really could be.

Than the realization hit him. She was only a girl. A girl.

And he was her teacher.

* * *

Please tell me if it's worth continuing. I might not finish it since, after all, it's a crazy idea. 


	2. Hello to the Mad Hare

**Chimera452Bast** – I know, it's really odd that he slept with someone so young, but I made her 18 instead of the stereotypical teenage age of 16. That would have been a little more difficult and I think it wouldn't sell at all. Thanks, somehow this fic is rolling good lines from water, I'm really enjoy writing it and completed a bunch of chapters so far. Thanks so much for your review!

**BlueAngel137** – Thanks for the review. It's nice to know that you approve. Don't worry, your curiosity will be answered, but it will take some chapters to do it. It's going to be a _long_ story. :D, I hope you agree.

**BlueBell** – thanks for informing me about Dafans. I ran right there after I heard they were all M/L. I'm very flatter you think I'm a good writer, sometimes I think my skill is a little novice, but I've been writing for ff for six years, I've bet I've done something right by, but I still want to make the reader happy, you know.

**shywr1ter **– Again, thank you for reminding me about that feature. I would have never realized it without your information. Secondly, I fell to the floor with flatter from your review. It seriously made my complete day and I knew that maybe it really wasn't such a crazy idea after all. I tend to go out there with my AU but I try to stay as close to the story as possible, no mary-janes or the sort, but still, I knew this idea was going to be a little hard to sell. If anything, Max will be unlike the character in the show. She's a little darker, more conflicted, and possibly more Manticore. Zack without the jawbone, if you ask me…lol. If she was 'normal', there would be no reason Logan would want to reach out for her. I point to the title to give a little hint on how things are going to be.

**Griever11** – Oh, I always like being the first. I really do! Thanks so much for the review. I'm very confident now that I'll continue it thanks to you. :D

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**A/N:** Thanks for everyone's review. I really thought it would be a hard fic to sell, especially since M/L is very sacred to me. I rather read a very horrible M/A fic than a badly written, empty plot M/L. ::Runs in torture!::. If you have any questions, please ask. Things will be explained and written clearly as possible, but if you find something unrealistic or hard to believe, tell me and I'll try my best to craft it into a believable aspect without taking away from the alternative universe of the fic. It's turning out to be a little dark, but there is a light in the tunnel, I promise. It's the conflict that makes this story, not the, ooohh, he's my teacher and I want to jump his bones but I can't aspect. I'm trying my best not to do that…lol. But…it be in there somewhere for those who are hoping for it. ;D

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**Two – Hello to the Mad Hare**

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"You're late as usual, Ms. Guevara." The ex-marine stood six inches taller than her, casting a shadow that was infamous as the sign of death to many other students. Max didn't fear him, but she couldn't help being concerned that he singled her out. A shiver when up her back when the clean-shaven, straight-backed, shoe-shined, military man hovered over her like Goliath. From what Max had heard, he use to be in charge of Fort Knox before the Japanese bought the gold and used it as their own safety deposit box. Now what was he doing? Busting kids from smoking in the bathroom and handing _her_ detention slips.

God, how she wanted to know how he went from General to the largest gold reserve with soldiers to spare all the way down to referral Nazi. Max loved a good 'fall from glory' story, especially when he wore it so plainly on his sleeve.

Max waited and wondered what her punishment would be this time. Going to his office and listening how she had no ambition and she'll better straighten up her act or else? Sitting for an hour after school and being remind how much potential she had, again? Or the nice call to her adoptive parents to tell her what a troubled, smart ass she was?

"Get to class." The General told her softly before moving down the hall. Maybe he had finally washed his hands of her? Max wasn't too sure. But for sure, Max wasn't going to question it. She took the out and made it to her last class _without _detention, a first in a long time.

Max always believed if she could get through one more day, the next would become easier. Unfortunately, when she awoke she found herself repeating the same thing again. Make it through the day and tomorrow will be better.

It never was. Max began to loose hope.

Sulking to the door, she expected a woman at the blackboard giving another pound of homework. Instead, she found an absent shadow. The scratches in white chalk still remained from the day before and the class wasn't even excited at their teacher's disappearance. Even Calvin, who would remain asleep in the back, was actually awake and conversing with other slackers in the back.

When she entered that room, she must have slipped down the rabbit hole.

She went for her desk she found it had been replaced. She spent so many classes carving out that desk and putting her gum on the bottom of the desk. Why did things have to change? Why did everything seem so different?

One thing that remained the same was Kendra sitting in front of her. She would feel unprotected without her blonde hair blocking her view from the teacher. Kendra's bright clothes and charismatic attitude was Max's curtain for her plain, conformist exterior.

"Missed you last night. Where'd you go?"

Max didn't reply. She wouldn't remind herself with the memory of being held so closely to a nameless stranger. Max curled her lip under her front teeth and suck in a breath as she remembered the hands curling around her hips. She was left exposed in her moment of weakness. The soldier inside punished her, the woman branded her a whore, and the little girl lost asked her what she had done?

She just wanted to find acceptance with all of her ghosts. If only she could find a common ground.

Max would always be at war, that was something all of her accepted. The only thing. None of them wanted to accept that he did affect her.

"You think we will all pass now?" Kendra interrupted as she ran her fingers through her blonde hair. The look of obliviousness caused Kendra to question where had she been all this week. If only Max could explain when she was on the prowl for the scent of after-shave and musk, everything took the back seat. "Max…didn't you hear?"

Kendra picked up the paper with her icy pink painted nails and flopped it on Max's new desk.

_10th Victim: Schoolteacher brutally murdered in own home. Seattle Police have no leads and is calling for any witnesses to the murder to contact the department of investigations._

It was like asking her about the latest fashion trend and the fact was, Max did not care. Seeing the front-page article just gave the soldier in her the boost up to overpower her conscious. This was life. Murder, loss, pain, death, darkness, and even failure. Now the soldier inside of her screamed this was the proof that her weakness was nothing to be proud of, or ignored. It needed to be punished. Max just let her scream away. No use trying to hold her conscious back, after all, it kept her alive this long.

"Now I know why I didn't get served with detention." Max mumbled before she leaned back.

"God, you're so insensitive." Kendra replied.

"Coming from the girl who wants to take advantage of our teacher's murder by raising her GPA?"

"It sounded a lot better in my head." She told Max with guilt. "Anyway, we'll both be idiots if we didn't take advantage of it."

Max turned around and gave the blonde a deep stare. "But totally immoral."

"Tough world." Kendra quipped back.

The soldier inside of her mind told her to smile in agreement. People's death should not be mourned, or taken in vain. Her death would propel her, the soldier reminded her. If she wanted to be normal, she had to play the system like everyone else. If she disliked institutions or not, Max had to be like every other girl. She had an adoptive family, an education she hated, and secrets she'll never tell.

"Yeah, tough world."

Kendra only smiled. "I'm glad you think my way."

The door was opened gently and the familiar face of the Principal entered the room. Kendra automatically licked her lips seductively, something Max picked up as she watched Kendra with adoring eyes. The girl was everything the woman inside wanted to be. Outspoken, seductive, feminine, and brave enough to take risks.

"I know you all are still recovering from Ms. Locke's murder. I can assure you, Seattle Police are doing everything they can to find the person responsible." His words began to fall away, slightly muted as _he_ walked into the room. Her chest automatically felt tight and she could feel the soldier in her taking the most natural position to calm her. Her arms bent in right angles, her palms face down on the cold desk, and her back as straight.

If she had a tail, the hairs would be on ends.

She didn't blink, soldiers don't blink, but she couldn't help not to feel like a deer in headlights. The blood rushed from her face into her legs and feet. She was on autopilot, preparing herself to escape and evade, but she sat frozen. The soldier told her to run, the woman told her to kill him for taking advantage of her, and the child wasn't there to respond—Max assumed she ran away, and that's what she should do.

Max stood up, the chair behind her falling to the floor at the sudden movement. The class's attention was suddenly directed at her and she felt exposed and outnumbered.

Run, soldier, run. Always retreat when you're outnumbered. Always keep moving in enemy territory. Never allow defeat.

Overpowered, fearful, and scared, she ran.

* * *

He barely survived. 

His eyes would look over the empty desk and the realization would hit him even harder each time. Logan knew she was young but he hadn't cared at the moment, just as she didn't care how older he was. Panic set in after the dismissal bell rang. They weren't in the mood to discuss the curriculum but they were ecstatic to pounce to the door.

His angel was a student here. His student.

God, why did he feel so sick? His face began to flush, his palms began to sweat, his skin became clammy, and his eyesight blurred even more. She affected him so much, could the heavens not see?

Logan should have known with such a strong connection the night they made love that she wouldn't disappear from his life completely.

He knew he couldn't stay. He knew he couldn't stay a teacher. Her teacher.

Logan felt so disgusted with himself. He took advantage of her. Even if the evidence said different, he would always blame himself. Logan went to Andrew. Like a scared dog, he ran to his master. Andrew knew the look on his face and knew he was already over his head.

"Logan, go get a drink. It was the best thing I did after the first day. I promise, it won't be that bad tomorrow."

Logan wanted to hand in his resignation. But he didn't even have a resignation! But how could he do that to his friend, after two hours in the building, without setting off some suspicion? Last thing he wanted was his family covering up a scandal with some schoolgirl. They were already ashamed with the divorce. If only he had known, he wouldn't have set eyes on her. Trouble, that's all she was.

He agreed with Andrew, he needed a drink. Logan believed he had good cause for one. He deserved it after that surprise. Valerie's past wasn't going to guilt him out of it. Valerie went out of control and damned if he was going to be compared to his ex-wife. He went into the first bar he found. He felt safe when the door closed behind him and the warmth touched his face. His skin was so cold, but he felt so hot.

He immediately went to the counter and grabbed the bartender's attention. "Shot of anything you have." Logan ordered as he placed five dollars on the wet tabletop.

Setting the glass on the table, the bartender filled it with scotch and took the money off the table. Logan downed it quick with the snap of his neck. That had to get his act together.

But, he should have known better. There was a crash as the door swung open and brunette stumbled out of the bathroom. His stomach began to swirl with the alcohol entering it, and he couldn't deny seeing her again wouldn't put him on the edge. Seeing the darkness that overshadowed her, he felt guilty once more. Not for the things he had done, but the horrible things he had thought about her. It was obvious she deserved none of his criticisms. The only trouble he would face would be not to love her.

Like a moth to a flame, he approached her.

* * *

**TBC**


	3. Boldface Terms

**Angelstryst** – I'm glad you're interested in the murder plot because you'll need to remember it in future reference and I'm glad you like the General—well sort of. I grew around military types, so I'm fond of them. The general will play a good part in helping Max deal with the soldier and human inside later. I hope that wasn't too spoiling, but just to let you know that he'll be used. Thanks!

**Griever11** – Oooh. Can I have a cherry to go with it???

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A/N: I'm taking a lot from the pilot, since I think something are different but their banter would always stay the same. Can't say I'm not disappointed with the reviews, but I have no intention of letting that get in the way, so enjoy!

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**Chapter Three – Boldface Terms**

Running happened to be the best thing she could have done. She ran out of the school, out of enemy territory, and managed to find refuge in a restroom of a bar. She sunk down to the floor as the convulsions shook through her tiny frame. She was supposed to be a priceless piece of next generation weaponry. In actuality, she felt like a lemon that spent too much time on the lot.

She shoved the pills into her mouth and swallowed them back despite her dry throat's objection. She curled her legs under her chin and pleaded that it couldn't get worse. It just couldn't.

Could it?

The soldier told her to suck it up, the woman combed her hand through her hair in comfort, and the little girl begged her to get better so she could play. Max just wanted to die. She was absolutely humiliated. That stranger was right there to remind her of her weakness. It would be useless for her to deny that she didn't regret the night before. She thought it was one of her better nights in heat, at least that guy was decent—he cared. He asked her name, and for god sakes, he asked her if she was in pain.

With another shake, Max hit her head against the wall.

It took nearly another half-an-hour before she felt steady enough to walk out the door. Exhausted, she slammed the bathroom door open and stumbled out like a drunk. She only wished she was.

When she lifted her head and flipped the curls out of her face, she saw him standing near the bar with an empty shot glass in hand. She let out an incredulous breath as she tried to look for an escape. No escape except the front door, and that would require her to pass him to get to it. Oh, if there only been a window.

He put the glass down and approached her. Was her stomach really curling into a knot? She hadn't felt so intimidated since she was a little girl, a little soldier. He looked as handsome as the night before. Smelt even better, Max thought as he came her way. This was an opposite experience. Instead of her seducing her way towards him, now it was his turn to approach and entrap her with his strong eyes.

Max licked her lips in anticipation, wondering what he would say. She didn't mean to make him even further intrigued.

"So," Max began, before shrugging her shoulders in awkwardness.

Logan bit his lip painfully. Was he that weak to make her say the first word? "If I knew, I never would have…"

"It's not your fault, if I…" Max interrupted before shaking her head. "I could have left if I wanted to." Max reminded him. Her genes told her different, but she knew she had enough self-control in that brief moment of victory that she could have left. She knew he was older than her, she knew that he was perfect stranger, and she knew that either one of them cared if they said no. But Max didn't, so she had nothing to regret.

Logan felt the weight pressing into his shoulders. "I seriously can't believe this is happening." He ran his hand through his blonde spikes before letting it rest behind her neck.

"I'll drop the class, you'll never have to see me." Max told him before her instincts to escape propelled her to start moving towards the door. He narrowed his eyes before stepping in front of her with confusion. Max stopped short, slightly upset that she would have an obstacle standing in the way of her mission. Escape.

_What do you do when there is an obstacle in your way?_

_Eliminate it, sir!_

"Wait," Logan began. He watched her face turn into confusion as he stood in her way. It was like she couldn't believe he just stopped her from moving to the door. "You can't seriously just drop a class just because of this."

Max's brown eyes opened wide. "I can do what I want."

Logan chuckled, disbelievingly. "You're a kid, you have responsibilities."

_Responsibility._

_Duty._

_  
Loyalty._

Max gritted her teeth. That white screen with the boldfaced terms, which left a burning memory flashed in front of her eyes. She could still feel her arms at right angles, the coldness on her bare skull, and the shadow of her maker crossing the room with purpose. Max loathed her photographical memory, and she hated people who made her flashback to Manticore even more.

"I don't think a kid could make you moan like that." Max quipped back.

Logan immediately cringed as the guilt flowed right back into his stomach. She wasn't making it any easier, was she?

Max automatically felt bad about her comment, still, she stood her ground. She wasn't going to apologize and expose she was wrong. That was a weakness she couldn't accept. If anything, _he_ was going to apologize.

"What do you expect me to do?" Max raised her eyebrow and threw her hand on her hip with attitude. "Sit in your class and pretend like that we didn't sleep together? Let me clue you into something, that ain't going to happen."

"Isn't." Logan automatically corrected.

Max narrowed her eyes, confused, before she let out an amused laugh. "You're a piece of work, you know that?"

"Can't say different about you." Logan snapped back.

Max just gave a good grin. "It's been nice, completely awkward, but nice. Too bad there isn't a 'sorry you screwed your student' card I could give you in return." Max relaxed her face before she turned from him and began to head for freedom. That was before he put a hand on her arm. Max's skin tingled as she turned her head back to see his concerned eyes.

Logan didn't know why he was propelled him to reach out for her. But, coming in contact with her silky skin again was enough of an answer why.

"You shouldn't be walking home alone. Not when there's a serial killer out there."

Max smiled, trying to find a way out. "Sure, let me get my coat."

Logan raised an eyebrow as she was obviously playing him. "The one in your hand?"

Max didn't need to look down as her grip tightened on the denim jacket. "Right."

Logan escorted Max out of the bar, keeping a close distance as they began to walk. She wasn't sure if she should actually take him to her home. Last thing she wanted was her teacher making house calls to see her parents. They got enough reminders about her lack of discipline and responsibility from the referral Nazi. But, it was the thought that counted, right?

"Let me carry your bag." Logan offered his hand and Max only shrugged, handing him her book bag. He almost fell by the weight of her textbooks. He grunted before putting it on his shoulder.

Max knew he would be surprised by the weight.

"So, is this your full time job, Mr. Cale? Teaching underprivileged children?" Max questioned as her muscles of her legs began to regain their strength. "I doubt it pays for that apartment in such a nice part of town."

Logan grimaced. "My parents were loaded." Max nodded before crossing her arms in front of her. "I'm a freelance journalist. I'm just doing this as a favor for Andrew. If he didn't get a replacement, you kids wouldn't have a school to go to. It would be just another injustice people would turn a blind eye to." Max turned up her nose as he talked. Logan turned his head to see her grimace. "What?"

"There you go with 'you kids'. I'm 18. I'm not a child. Neither are the rest of them." Max reminded.

"You're still young." Logan peered down at her. "You don't know what you want yet."

Max shook her head, unable to take his patronizations. She stopped short, looking at him like a cat ready to turn against it's own kind. "And you do? How does a guy go from the one percent, to freelance journalist, to an inner-city teacher? It seems like_ you _don't know what _you_ want." Max pointed out, pretty realistically and bluntly.

Logan didn't like having people read him and make judgments base of his occupation. He got enough of that from his family, he didn't need it from so smart-ass kid who he hardly spoke less than hour with.

"Yeah, if you know what you want, than what is it?"

"To survive," the soldier told him quite bluntly. "To wake up the next day and make it to the next. That's my plan, and it's been pretty good so far."

Logan shook his head, amazed. She was product of every negative comment ever said to a child. Logan pitied her. If only she knew what she could accomplish with such a smart brain of hers. "That isn't a plan. That isn't something any human should want. Don't you have goals? Ambitions? Dreams?"

Max bitterly thought about those words in her head. Human? Can't say she was. Still, there wasn't anything she wanted more than to be proud of herself through an achievement she reached without Manticore's help. Fact was clear, she would never, and it was pointless to think different. The best thing for her to do is make it to the next day and worry about the future when the time came.

"Take a look around you, what is there to achieve?" Max held out her hands as Logan surveyed the area. There was nothing but homeless families, dirty workers, and the usual crime running rapid around the street. Max let her hands drop before she sadly considered the other reason for her lack of motivation. "If I don't expect anything, I have nothing to be disappointed about."

Logan pressed his lips together, mourning the child who never got to aspire to one single thing. Somewhere inside he knew someone must have kicked her down when he reached for something better. Logan knew she wanted everything and it was only fear that held her back.

"If you work hard, Max. You can achieve anything. You accept things as they are and believe what others tell you, you an avid participate in making things worse."

"First I'm the victim, now I'm to blame? Tell me, is the social studies class over today?"

Logan looked ahead as car honked its horn as a few chicken escaped from their cages and ran in the middle of the street. "You're bright, Max. If you only used that energy for something productive, I know you'll succeed…" He turned his head back to where Max was standing and found nothing but an empty space.

He automatically lifted his head when he heard the buzzing of the hoverdrone levitate over his head.

If he didn't know any better, she was running from something.

Good that he knew better. She _was_ running from something. It explained her hopelessness. Then he felt the weight on his shoulder.

It wouldn't be that bad if he took a look, would it?

* * *

Tell me you like where it's going! 


	4. Attributed to Chitarus

**angelstryst -** I'm glad you didn't think that it was unusual or creepy. It puts a very nice smile on my face!

**shywr1ter - **I'm so happy you're getting the little factoids! That's all I'm going to say in that matter...:p. No hints here. I don't know if I should answer your questions without spoiling you, but I think it's safe to say that the General has really nothing to do with an escapee. He has a purpose in the story, and you'll see more of him. He's just another stepping stone for Max to forgive her demons and past. I really based him off of Guber in "Boston Public", I used to love that show and loved his character even more. He's like the Dean of students. Sort of like hall monitor and stuff. I think it works since he's a military guy, I couldn't see him doing anything else but taking care of disciplinary actions. I can't say it's the same bar, I don't think they would run back to it. It just happened to be the closest one near by, but it's ironic that they find themselves back in a bar to talk. Thanks!

* * *

**A/N:** I taking a lot from the pilot again, but at least it's finally going somewhere. I hope you guys like it even if it's a little messy. I tried my best but rewriting something we know so clearly isn't a piece of cake, especially if you try to make it your own.**  
**

* * *

**Four – Attributed to Chitarus**

* * *

Logan threw the bag down on his table. He gave the black messenger bag one good look before he made the choice to invade her privacy. He had known since the moment he met her that there was something off, a large cloud of mystery that made it unable to picture her clearly. Logan had no other choice if he wanted to save her or not. It was the humanist inside of him.

And, everyone needed saving. Especially her.

He undid the plastic clasps and slide out the textbooks from the sleeve. The hardcover was not reading material given to high school students. _Advance Genetic Analysis._ Genetics? With a girl with such a hopeless disposition, she did have an unusual desire to learn advance medical research. He pushed the genetic textbook aside and found a notebook with absolutely nothing written in it. She used the journal as a front, to assure the teachers that she was taking notes only to just stay under the radar. He found the expected things for a teenager too, like chewing gum and lip-gloss, both to use on that beautiful mouth of hers.

Logan did not expect to find an orange tinted prescription bottle. He lifted it up to eyesight and things began to connect in his mind as the pills rolled around in the amber light.

How was instantly drawn to such a lovely creature?

By the barcode on the back of neck?

By the animalistic nature of her kisses?

By the instinct to survive?

By the textbooks on genetics?

Maybe that contact he meant long ago really wasn't crazy. Of course, Logan believed into the government conspiracy, he didn't think any less of the American military. But some had been too extraordinary to trust, genetic splicing in children to create an advance, next-generation weapon? It sounded out too inconceivable, something he didn't know was achievable in reality. He guessed he was wrong. After all, he just slept with one of their escaped prototypes.

And that now she was his current student mystified him a little more.

All he could assume was this was tryptophan, to treat her seizures.

She was an '09 escapee.

With some very dangerous people out to get her back.

* * *

Theo Guevara entered his adoptive daughter's room. He stretched his back from the long bike ride he took home and smiled at the pretty face that hid in her pillow.

"Hey, there Maxie."

She had been a fixture in his life since she was adopted at the age of fifteen. He found her in an alleyway after a long run to Sector 2 in the worst possible condition. She had epilepsy, she told him. Sick, thin, and obviously a scared kid, he had to bring her home. She had grown up with him and his wife, but Max was still adjusting.

Even after four years.

Theo saw the paleness of her skin. Poor kid, he instantly thought. "Did you have another seizure today?" Theo asked softly as she curled her legs underneath her like a child. When she nodded a wave of concern washed over him.

"Maxie." He reached out for her but she flinched from his touch. She wouldn't be comforted for a weakness. She wouldn't allow herself to be piety on either. She just wanted to be a normal. Max didn't want him to know, or even to care. She might have been the baby of the litter, there would always be someone to take care of her when Zack or Tinga wasn't the first to respond, but now she was in solitude. She didn't have a father or a mother. Theo was only her friend. They _weren't_ family.

She **did** care for him, but she had to draw the line somewhere. Last time the line went blurred, Eva landed on the floor, dead.

"Get my bag, I have to study." Max sat up. Ignore the weakness that still lingered in her bones.

"You're lucky. Someone brought it home for you." Max's heart stopped as Theo brought the bag out from the living room. If she remembered clearly, she gave it to Logan Cale, and then escaped when the hoverdrone passed over their heads…and she forgot the bastard had her bag. She scolded herself. How could she be so forgetful?

Theo closed the door behind her, leaving her alone with the textbooks. She heard a louder rattling from her bottle of pills than usual. She held her up her messenger bag and out slipped an oversized, white opaque bottle of pills clearly labeled Tryptophan.

Max's body itched uncomfortably inside as she held the bottle in her hands.

All she could assume it could have been one person.

Logan Cale.

* * *

Logan leaned in to light the candle on his dining table. Logan had arranged a perfect dinner for two, using his mother's favorite crystal and the best recipe he could scrape up with the ingredients he had in his pantry.

He began to think about his favorite little student (with sarcasm and slight dry humor). He began to reason that Max was born and trained to be a vicious murderer. But there had to be some human emotion in there, somewhere. Where hopeless dominated, faith hid. There was always good and evil in everyone, even in her Colonel Lydecker. Her creator, teacher, and personal enemy--if Logan was right.

Usually, he was. But arrogance aside, he had to believe that for everyone. Even the person who murdered his own parents.

There would be no life without forgiveness.

Logan smiled as he kept his ears in tune for any movement across his floor. It was barely noticeable. Logan smiled upon the feline part of Max. It was very prominent in her character. He began to remember her purring with admiration now.

"You ever notice how cats always seem to turn up around dinnertime?"

She slowly crept out, her lovely round face glowing in his tasteful lighting. Her face told him that she was annoyed.

"I won't be staying."

"I'm not a half-bad cook." Logan raised an eyebrow, flirting with her. Max glared. She wasn't in the mood for games. Not after frightening her as he did. She threw the bottle of pills at her side and Logan barely had enough warning to catch them.

"Messing with a girl's meds is bent." She replied.

"Bent?" He said with humor.

"Bent." Max correctly coldly. "Was I supposed to keep them? How do I know you didn't switch them with some trip-assed drug?"

Logan swallowed as looked down at the pharmaceutical label. He went through a lot of trouble to replace the short supply Max had in a few short hours. He actually owed several people multiple favors because of it. "It wouldn't be inappropriate for some gratitude." Logan sarcastically drawled.

Max ignored him, walking around his apartment to explore. Logan saw as she looked around, getting a feel of her environment, and observed the soldier inside. He was addicted to her like an unsolvable puzzle box. He was always surprised, always intrigued, and left wanting nothing more than to break the code.

He watched her move to the gold statue and admire the lines of one of his favorite antiques. "You have good taste. French, 1920, attributed to Chitarus."

Max raised her eyebrow. "Whoever that is."

"So…what, you like it 'cause it's shiny?"

Max turned her head up from the statue with the upper hand. She doubted her intelligence. She didn't enjoy being challenged.

"No, because it's the Egyptian goddess Bast, the goddess who comprehends all goddesses, eye of Ra, protector, avenger, destroyer, giver of life who lives forever." Logan was satisfied with her answer. She was more intelligent that she lead people to believe. "You should move it from the window." Max put a hand on the head of the feline statue and leaned gracefully against it. There she was, his Bast. His goddess, his protector, avenger, destroyer, and eternal angel.

"Someone might get an idea to fence it."

"I think I'm safe from anyone seeing it's here." Logan said without doubt.

"If you're sure." Max shrugged before moving away from the statue.

"You'd think a guy who wanted nothing more than a one-night-stand would have a few more important things than to traipse around after some girl. His student, mind you." She added with a smile as she went back to his beautiful prepared dining table. Maybe she was a little hungry than she assumed. Max couldn't imagine him being nothing but delicious, in every skill…including cooking. She popped the cherry left out on the table in her mouth and tasted the bitter sweetness of the rare fruit.

Logan looked in awe, as she would do nothing to keep him wanting to kiss her.

"I haven't been able to get you off my mind." Logan said breathlessly, truthfully.

Max smiled, flattered. "You need to get out more."

Logan couldn't help himself. He approached her, putting a hand on her cheek and caressing the smooth skin of jawbone. Her beautiful eyelashes fluttered close as she leaned her angelic face into his palm. Logan waited for that purr, but nothing came but a feminine sigh. That was enough to lean into her cherry stained lips. Logan remembered the softness that existed a night before. It still lingered in their kiss and could have been even stronger than before. It made him weak in his knees, and Max could have only felt the same.

He parted from her, smiling after knowing what he had wondered all this time. She could be affected, after all. Maybe there was still hope in her.

"Do you always come on this strong to all your students, Logan?" She dangerously teased as his body brushed against hers.

"Only when I meet someone that I have to know everything about." Logan replied seductively. Max's grin went from ear to ear as the blush on her cheeks redden in praise. She had never felt so adored and flattered. It was the first time she ever felt so special, so loved.

"What couldn't you escape? The fact that I managed to surprise you in the bed or the classroom?"

"Well, that lovely barcode on the back of your neck first. Then how you ran from that hoverdrone…" Max's smile vanished from her face. She wasn't enjoying the direction he was taking at that moment. "Wondering why a girl who is failing each one of her classes is bringing home an advance genetics textbook…and now finding these in her bag?" Logan held up the bottle and raised an eyebrow.

Max shrugged nonchalantly. "Girl needs her amino acids."

"They used to sell this stuff in health food stores as an energy boost. It's also a neurotransmitter sometimes used in homeopathy to control seizures. Then the light bulb went on. I got an anonymous report a few years ago about a covert genetics lab in the Wyoming Mountains…"

All the blood rushed from Max's face as her heart crashed to her feet. The soldier inside of her was laughing. How could she become so sentimental? The woman inside of her held her up on her feet. Kill him, she ordered. Any man to deceive you is worth getting rid of, she barked. The little girl inside told him to give him a chance, she liked him, after all.

She swallowed hard, impossible to get it down her throat without grimacing. "I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but I'm out because you're a wack-job. Seducing his students…"

"I located a guy claiming to be a med tech on something called Project Manticore, which was using recombinant DNA to produce a superior human, a warrior, and advance infantry soldier."

She was disgusted how quickly Logan summed up years of wondering, questioning, crying, researching, in only a few minutes. It took her so long to find the answers she had recovered, and he was standing there, that bottle in her hand like he was the one who created her all along. Max wanted to kill him. He wanted to leave a huge black hole inside of him so he can understand how it felt like growing up into the darkness.

"You're treading on thin ice, Logan. You don't know anything." Max articulated gingerly.

Logan took a step forward in response. He wasn't afraid of her, and Max felt disgusted she couldn't instill fear on such a weak human.

"I know who you are and I know who you're running from. There were a couple dozen of these transgenic kids at Manticore. And in '09, a few months before the pulse, 12 of them escaped. Including you."

A tear descended from her dark eyes down her cheek.

"Twelve?"

* * *

**TBC**


	5. Fallen Women

**Mari83**- I'm so glad that you're sucked into everything. I'm trying really hard to keep the ball rolling even if it's taking me forever to explain everything. I'm halfway through (I'm currently writing the 13 chapter...half:O) and hopefully I can post some chapters that take it somewhere. Now, in the show, Kendra is this very vibrant and self-assured. I think because Max is always unsure of anything else but keeping under the radar, she would sort of look up to Kendra being the only woman influence in her life. Though, she won't be wearing bright pink mini-skirts and faux-fur scarves...lol. Thanks for reviewing!!!

**Babyangel86** - Yeah, this isn't any lolita of the sort. Sorry to disappoint if that's what you're thinking. It was going to be that way but with all the angst, doing a lolita sort of thing seemed too corny. :D. Thanks, I was really nervous about the last chapter, and this chapter because I'm still using some Pilot script.

**angelstryst** - I'm not a big fan of re-edits either, you got me there. Though there was this one story a long time ago that rewritten season one through the point of view of Logan, and it was so well done. I couldn't imagine anyone doing it was season two...I don't even own it and I won't still watch even one eppy. I'm so complemented that you think I wrote Max well, that just put a huge smile on my face since it's been a while I wrote DA fic. So Thanks!!!

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A/N: I forgot to put an A/N last chapter about Max's 'adoptive' parents. I wanted Max to have a sort of family she could rely on, and I really didn't want to bring in a original character, I like using characters from the show and after watching the pilot episode six thousand times to write these two chapters, I thought Theo would be the perfect guy. He obviously is very doting on Max. However since they never said a word about Theo's wife's name, I named her Trish, and she is currently pregnant with her son. So...besides that, I don't think I need to explain a lot in this chapters than enjoy!

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**Five – Fallen Women**

**5. **

"I never was really sure how many made it out that night. At times, I thought I was the only one."

Max sat on his couch, sitting like the untouched porcelain doll. This time, she didn't have the frilly dress or the blonde ringlets to hide behind. He could see the cracks through her hard exterior, finally.

"How well do you remember the lab?" He expected distant memories. After all, he could hardly remember his childhood, could anyone else say what they did the morning of their tenth birthday?

"I remember fine." Max replied, creasing her eyebrows as the she allowed the coldness in. "I just didn't understand what was going on. It took me a good four years before I even knew the reason for my seizures."

"How much do you know?" Logan asked, wondering if he could have even known more than she.

Max smiled bitterly as she stood up from the couch. "I know they made me. Even got the designer label on the back of my neck to prove it." She approached the window and couldn't remember a time when she was so high up. Heights soothed her. Instead of vertigo, she found contentment.

"Technical term for you is chimera."

The word meant nothing but mocking. "Yeah, made-up creature, like in mythology. Head of a lion, body of a goat. Your basic hodgepodge." The look of sadness in her eyes was more than he could stand. Why did she think so low of herself? It took millions of dollars to create her, why couldn't she see she was special?

"Hardly." Logan assured her. "You're perfect."

Max smiled. If only he knew she felt like a busted rent-a-wreck. "Why do you care so much? I thought you were just some trust-fund journalist? Why involve yourself with a wanted transgenic?"

"Believe it or not Max, I care. I wouldn't be reaching out to you if it didn't matter."

"Am I supposed to be touched?" Max quipped coldly as she stared at the street below. "Because I am in need of an intervention? I like my life the way it is. Strange as it is..."

"Living one day at a time isn't a life. You don't have to admit you past did some damage, I can see it on your face. The way you look at me." Max's eyes shot up and saw Logan carefully watching her every move. "You live without hope of ever being normal. You have the power to change it, you just don't know it." Logan ended softly.

Max blinked. Could she be so transparent, or was he the only one who could see through the walls she'd built all these years?

"You have no idea what it's like to be hunted like a science project. Normalcy isn't what I'm concerned about. Survival is. It's what I was trained to do and I'm not going to disappoint the soldier in me by ignoring every instinct that tells me to stay the hell away from you."

Logan could hear the desperate nature of her fear. She wanted a normal life, he knew it, but was it really impossible for her to achieve? Maybe it wasn't all Manticore, maybe she was a product of her own hunter? She was preyed by her own ghost, and possibly that soldier inside of her.

"Listening to that instinct and you let Manticore win. Isn't that why you ran away? To escape everything they did to you?"

Max closed her eyes. He was meeting her with the same passion that kept denying his help. It was like hitting a brick wall, over and over again. Why she kept going, well, she unconsciously knew why. She was just as intrigued with him as much as Logan was with her.

"I have to play by Manticore rules if I want to beat the system." Max explained. She leaned her back against the cold glass. How was it that she was explaining her life story to a person she hardly knew? Max took another look at him, trying to profile his appearance to the things she had already known. It wasn't until she saw the miniscule tan line on his ring finger that praised herself in victory.

He was once married, for a while to leave that line anyway.

"Was the dinner for two really for me, or were you waiting for someone else so you can discuss who got the car or the condo on the beach?" Max questioned with a raised eyebrow.

The blood ran from Logan's face. He didn't need to ask how she knew. Logan was dealing with an X5. Max would find out in her observing ways. After all, some of Valerie's things were still here, waiting for her to pick up. She could have seen them as she moved around his apartment.

"The divorce will be finalized in a few months."

"I don't take you as a man who can't commit, so was it the long hours she couldn't take, or was it her fault? Did she fall far?" Max smiled kindly, curious. She didn't have first experience on relationships. She wanted know exactly how the fairy-tale end.

Logan narrowed his eyes. Fall, as in fallen women? He was starring at one, a fallen woman from hope and faith. Then, he realized Valerie was just the same. She gave up hope after her father died and found comfort at the bottom of a bottle. She lost faith in Logan to steer her back from her destructive path and found it in the arms of a stranger. Maybe it was his fault? If he couldn't save Valerie, how could he save her?

"Look," Max said, apologetic. "You don't have to tell me anything. There's still a lot about me that you don't know."

Logan turned his head in curiosity. Was there more to her than just the barcode, the ghosts, and even the fear? Was there really a little girl inside waiting to be cuddled and told she was loved, or was that the woman inside? Maybe the soldier wanted it more than anyone could tell?

"What's the point of you coming after me?" Max asked, changing the subject. "So, you know my secret." She said with a fake importance, and the shrugging. "You think I'm going to stay up late with you and show you my battle scars and exchange war stories?"

"No, but you'll have someone to talk to. A genetically engineered girl on the run can't be all it's cracked up to be. You probably need someone to confide in."

Max blinked. "Like I need to dump my demons onto you."

Logan took a deep breath before he made the right decision.

She needed some sort of hope to exist from the past in order for it to exist in the present.

"I can help you."

"Help me?" Max questioned unbelievingly.

"Find the others."

Those were the only three words that he needed to say for her sarcastic face to disappear. He had seen her angelic face when he told her she wasn't the only one. It was like she hadn't known it. Maybe as her family disappeared, so did everything else alive in her. If he could provide a hope to find the family she must of craved, maybe the darkness would correct itself in a matter of time.

"Why should I believe that you would help me? A bored rich boy in a penthouse apartment?" Max questioned him. Sure, she wanted to believe he could help her but even she wanted to be skeptical. "What could you possible find about the others that I haven't already?"

Logan raised an eyebrow, surprised. "So, you've found somethingon them?"

"Not…exactly."

"Then it can't hurt to trust me, can it?"

Max didn't say she would trust him. That was the ultimate test, the three words she would never say even to herself. _I trust you._ It was just as untouchable as _I love you._ Something she wasn't going to say either in her life.

"What could you possibly find?"

"They would have used surrogate mothers to carry you to term after the in-vitro work. I could track one of them down, maybe even your surrogate mother."

Max scoffed at that. "I have no desire to find my surrogate." Making sure she would use the term _mother._ A real mother wouldn't sell their body for cash, allow the child inside to be subjected to torture, or abandon the baby like a piece of garbage or a freak show.

"Wouldn't you like to know who she was?" Logan asked curiously.

"We don't even share the same genetic work-up. She's probably white with blonde hair and blue eyes, or dead like a junkie she must have been to sell her body for cash. She's not my mother." Max made very clear. Her real mother had been Eva, who sacrificed her life for the safety of her baby sister. Her father had been Zack, who took care of them all, no questions asked. Max had no desire to meet the woman if she had been alive.

"Then the other twelve. I'll find them for you."

She leaned her head against the glass, silent. She didn't agree, nor did she dismiss his offer. Max just stood silently, trying to find a way to make up her mind. She wanted nothing more than to find her brothers and sisters. Maybe if she found them, she wouldn't be so hollow inside. There would be someone, just like her, trying to survive and not get caught up by phony sentimentality.

"What's in it for you?" Max lifted her head off the glass. Logan obviously wanted something from her, he wouldn't offer something she thought was so sacred for charity. Logan would have, either way. But, he did want something in return, and it wasn't for him, it was entirely for her.

"Midterms are coming up. If you get an A on all your papers, I'll give you the information you've been looking for."

Max turned her head incredulously as Logan told her the conditions to their arrangement. Max couldn't see he wasn't any more serious than at the moment. Still, Max could hardly keep the humorous smile off her face.

"You're crazy." Max told him with light humor.

"It's called capitalism, Max. Even as busted as our world is, it still exists. You have to work to get what you want." Logan told her. He smiled as he saw that she was taking it better than he feared. "I don't think it would be a problem with a girl who's learning advance genetics. It's just a bunch of British Literature and Government classes."

"So, let me get this straight." Max tried to clarify. "If I pass my classes, you'll help me? Just like that?"

"Not enough? Should I ask you to be my personal transgenic bodyguard?" Logan wondered.

Max shook her head. "No, that's enough."

"You can't skip my class."

Max smiled.

"I have no plans to."

* * *

So I hope that will clear some questions on which direction these two are going...:D 

TBC!


	6. A Common Ground

**A/N:** Sorry it's a little late update. I've been so busy putting my portfolio together for my college admission interview. It's not like it's unwritten, I have up to eleven done, but I haven't be able to find time to post with the sleepness nights hovering over the sewing machine. Hopefully I can start writing a few more chapters, but the garments won't finish by themselves...ugh.

**A/N:** This chapter might be a little over some peoples heads. The idea of this whole story was to expose Max to this world of oppitunity through education. I always wondered if she went to school or if she had the oppitunity to (I never read the novels and don't ever plan to). So this has to deal with a classroom situation, and the next we'll see some barriers brought down with our two favorite characters.

* * *

**Six – A Common Ground  
**

* * *

This was surreal.

This could have been more than she could have been able to take. Three days more and she would get an answer. She stayed patient but she felt like she was heat again, itching, fidgety, anxious, and completely out of control just waiting for what he could have found on her family. Biting her lip, she entered his class. He stood at the board, writing the lesson topic in chalk. He turned his head as she stood awkwardly after shutting the door.

Max held up the yellow slip of paper the Goliath gave her. Detention, again.

Logan felt disappointed before he assured himself that the X5s were natural troublemakers. She'll come through in the end. There was no way she wasn't going to let him down, especially with the information he gathered on her oldest sibling.

Max licked her lips before she retreated to her desk, throwing her books on the floor, and hid behind Kendra's bright blue blouse. Logan placed the chalk on the tray and turned to the students. He was going to inspire them, inspire her. Picking up the small book, he held it up to class.

"Essay Concerning Human Understanding," Logan began as he showed the old picture of the author on the front cover. "John Locke is a famous Enlightenment writer. As Thomas Jefferson wrote the constitution, he borrowed ideas from John Locke that were important forming the constitution." As the class stayed silent, Logan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Dude," Sketchy began. "Constitution doesn't exist. The government stomped all over it when martial law mandate was passed. We're all dogs."

Logan thought he made a clear point. Why learn about a piece of paper that was no longer apart of their government? Was it better to learn the branches of the military government than the theory of checks and balances? Yes, most of these kids would probably end up serving as many do, but it was the idea that freedom did exist that mattered.

"The Constitution might not be effective, but it does exist. Just as does the Declaration of Independence." Logan sat on his desk and looked at them with an uneasy glare. "John Locke believed that a person is a blank slate when they're born, innocent. As he grows, he can subsequently learn and improve through hard work. It depends on nature or nurture. You guys were brought up by nurture, believing that you have no rights." He looked at Max, his eyes soft. "Some nature, believing what you're created to do. Just live."

Max lower jaw began to grind on her front teeth. She didn't enjoy speaking about her with the rest of the students, even if it was hidden in his words. One fact still remained. Logan did not know her. He did not know the freak show of a body she had. He didn't know how she was raised. Surviving still seem pretty desirable to her still.

"Max?" She knew he would call her out. She knew he would put her on the spot.

"I don't know." Max automatically replied.

Logan grinned. "I didn't ask my question yet."

The class snickered before she took a sigh and prepared herself. She waited for some trivial answer that was supposed to have this hidden meaning to cause an epiphany? It was going to take much more than some academic question to break down her walls. But, Logan had the confidence if not nothing; there would be at least a crack, hairline if most.

"Do you think if a person is unsatisfied with their government, they have the right to overthrow it?" Logan questioned.

"I'm all for rebelling against authority, if you have a death wish." Max quipped back.

Logan laughed, and tried to get her back on the topic. "Well, what if you had a whole society who felt the same way. There are so much of you, and so little of them. Would it be that hard to get rid of a corrupted government and create a new one?"

"If you want a more wack-job government…"

Logan shook his head. "Reality aside, let's look at this idealistically."

"Can't." Max didn't have the power or the training to look at things idealistically. If she was going to war, risking other people's life, she had to make realistic risks and estimates. The probability was sideways, but if they had succeeded, it would have been just as messed up as before. It was just black and white for Max, she wasn't engineered or programmed to think in rose-tinted glasses.

"Can't?" Logan asked confused.

"I don't care to be field officer in this crusade against the corrupt. I'll be waiting on the sidelines enjoying a nice cup of coffee."

The class laughed again. Logan felt like he hadn't even made a dent in her defense system. Stubborn as he was, he wasn't going to give up and call defeat.

"Lets say the government was responsible for taking away you home. They moved you. Took away your individuality. If you had no name." Logan's strong eyes starred down at her with the intention to really make it sting. Everything he said bounce right off of her. He wanted to get inside of her mind to see how it really worked. "If they killed you family. Killed your soul. They can just do that? They have the right to do?"

Max swallowed before the barcodes flashed in front of her eyes. Her family. The black lines were so powerful in contrast to the skin of the back of their necks. Memories of fighting and working, and the fact remained that they could still starve and still die no matter how hard they fought. How she was just a number, a piece of machinery easy to be disposed of. How they could just kill Eva, how they could just take Jack away for science. How she would remain damaged so far away from the hell she had been born in.

"No." The little girl told her. "They can't."

"Sure, they can." Logan argued. "They're the government, and who are you?"

"I'm a person." Max argued back, more intensely. She was a _person._ She wasn't a _weapon._ "I have rights like everyone else. I was born with those rights. It doesn't matter who I am."

Her words were cryptic to the class, but Logan knew he had gotten through and heard Max unconsciously fight back.

Logan tore his eyes from Max and smiled back at the students in the small, deconstructed room. "John Locke refers to these rights every person is born with as the Inalienable Rights. These rights cannot be transferred to another being and belong completely to that person, despite the power the government holds. All of you have these rights and I want you to know that _no one_ can take them away from you. I hope one day, you'll see these injustices and know they should not occur. Alone, you will be defeated. Together, you can change the world."

The bell rang and the students were happy to pick up their bags and head out the door. "Study Locke. He'll be on your midterm!" Logan shouted as the student flocked out the door. Sketchy came towards the desk with his slacker buddy, Jasper, and put his arm around Logan in a fraternal gesture.

"Great speech today, Mr. Cale. I was very moved." Sketchy said articulately. "In fact, Jasper and I have decided to devote ourselves completely to your reasoning."

Logan smiled. "That's nice, but you should concentrate on your other studies as well."

Sketchy and Jasper just dismissed the thought. Jasper approached him and narrowed his eyes, like a seller about to make a great deal. "Since we are your most loyal students."

Sketchy took off his hat and symbolized his loyalty by putting it on his chest. "You could possibly tell the General we'll be hearing you speak for the next, say…"

"45 minutes." Sketchy articulated. "We can definitely make it worth your while. Max!"

Logan looked over to Max who was heading to the door. "Lift up your shirt." Sketchy ordered before he whispered in his ear, "she'll make it worth your while."

"You're both idiots." Max narrowed her eyes before returning to her path.

Logan laughed incredulously. They were trying to squeeze their way out of detention. Logan just looked at the two and shook his head in humor. "I have no desire to cross the path of the General, if you ask me. You two should just go and get it over with." Logan took Sketchy's hand off of him and moved to his desk to collect his things.

"Dude, I told you it wouldn't work." Jasper told him.

"It was worth a try," Sketchy replied as the headed towards the door.

Logan looked up as Max came to the front of the room, holding her yellow slip in her hand. Logan was automatically curious what she had done to be handed another yellow slip. She must have been a regular in detention, Logan thought humorously. But the fact was, she was still a little awkward by the whole thing. With him, standing in the front of the class, teaching them if they stood together, they wouldn't fail. How he left her exposed for her peers to see. Kendra remarked how she looked like she was going to cry.

Logan didn't apologize. Instead, he offered her a book.

Max accepted it with hesitation.

"Civil Disobedience?" Max read the title carefully.

"I think you'll might find something in common with Thoreau." He told her as she held the small paperback essay in her hands. "You should at least try to read it."

"Thanks." She said, nonchalantly before putting it in her messenger bag.

"Detention?" Logan asked about her yellow slip in hand. "You should stay more out of sight. Last thing you want is a military guy breathing down your tattooed neck."

Max shrugged. "He's harmless. He must sense the soldier in me, or something, and has this need to single me out. Gives me detention but talks a bunch of crap about how I'll never amount to my potential if I lack self-discipline and don't try."

"He's right. He sees something in you. So do I."

Max just narrowed her eyes. "Thanks for the book. I might use it as my pillow for the next 45 minutes."

She didn't even scold him for exposing her so humiliatingly. And she knew why, she just wouldn't admit it to herself. But for the first time, she didn't have the voice inside of her telling her things she should have done instead of thanking him. Instead, Max just smiled and exited the room, leaving a common understanding that they were both forgiven.

And Logan accepted their new relationship as mentor and student. Possibly more. Maybe even friends.

They were connected. They always would be.

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Even the small review is welcomed! 3 


	7. Five More Minutes

**Chimera452Bast **- I understand your feeling. I feel like I've been drowning the past few days and I'm hardly at school. It's application time...ah! I'm glad you enjoy the story and I hope it gives you a little fun time in your busy day! Thanks!

**Mari83 - **Even though your behind in chapter reviews or so on, I hope you don't mind me replying to your review a chapter ahead. :p. I'm so thankful for all your quotes. It's good to know some of those parts you enjoyed since they were slightly in danger of being cut during the editing process. :p. Thanks for the luck. FIT is the fashion insitute of technology, a school in nyc. I'm hoping to learn how to be a seamstress and the applications for that department is huge. It's taking up most of my time. Thus, the semi-delayed update. :D

**BlueAngel137 - **I'm glad your like those parts:::does happy dance:::. Well, I use to be a political studies major and a lot of stuff has stuck. I can actually see Lydecker reading some of my required materials like The Art of War by Machiavelli...lol. But I've changed my major since it's somewhat depressing that you can't always help everyone and the egotism and arrogance it's out of it's world. But I still read political theory literature and as I was reading Civil Disobedience I found a lot that Max would believe in if she was ever philosophical. So...more character growth in this chapter I suppose. So, thanks for the comment!!!

**angelstryst** - Thank you so much, I love political literature (though spark notes are equally important to thank from me, wouldn't be able to fully comphend some things without it...lol) Thanks for the luck and I hope you enjoy the chapter! - More literary refernces...lol.

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**A/N: **Okay, I've taken some 'quotes' from Thoreau's Civil Disobedience in this chapter. I hope you enjoy the character seperation, though I know you really would like some me time with the two. I sort of wish I could get them together so quickly and all of you could be happy but it just wouldn't work with the story line. So, sorry and enjoy!

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**Seven – Five More Minutes**

**3:10**

Just five more minutes and her absolutely torture would be over. As a child, this would have been seen as a luxury. But, as an adult that always was on the move and always active, sitting still had become a challenge. Sitting still with absolutely nothing to focus on made it worse. She had the book in her bag, the book Logan knew she would understand, but she couldn't bare to have anyone think they _knew _her so it sat untouched.

She wanted to bang her head on the desk, again and again, until she was put out of her misery.

As soon as her eyes came in contact with the General, she knew that expected scolding would come.

"Will you ever learn you lesson, Ms. Guevara, or will it take suspending you to clean up the act?"

What did she do, exactly? At least she wasn't gambling with dice like Sketchy and Jasper. But at least they made a buck or two, she could really say being late to class was financially rewarding.

"Suspend me." Max offered honestly.

"You would like that. But, I have no plans on giving you a vacation."

"Too bad." Max shrugged, lowing her back against the desk. She looked at the clock, hoping that had given her some time.

**3:11**

Tormented, she decided to take out the book. Max began to appear busy so the General wouldn't bother her further. At first she had enjoy their little games, but now, it was just boring and unentertaining. There was only so much rebelling a girl could do against authority. Sometimes, she just wanted to be a good student and achieve her potential, but that was wishing too much. What was she suppose to do then? She would just be on the run, like all of her siblings, always looking over their shoulder and hoping not to get caught.

Cracking the binding, she began to read the first section. Her eyes became locked with the black ink that shared a man's views on a human's rights under a corrupt government nearly 170 years ago. Each sentence gave her a reason for living, a passion for being, and the motivation to understand the life she was truly meant to lead.

_"The mass of men serves the state, but act as machines, with their bodies: they are the standing army."_

The creation of Manticore. The beginning of life for the X5s. They were made not humans with souls, but an instrument of death.

_"In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or the moral sense, but they put themselves on a level of earth and stones."_

No freedom. No choice. No sense between what was truly right or wrong. But they wanted her to rise to meet the deadly potential she was born for.

_"Wooden men can perhaps be manufactured to serve the purpose as well."_

Manticore. A death factory. Where more hollow souls appeared on the assembly line.

_"Such command no more respect than men of straw or lump dirt. They have the same worth of dogs."_

And just like Jack, they could be dragged away like defect needing to be dissembled. They could be tortured, beaten, and starved and no one cared.

_"Their legislators, commanders to the state, lack any moral distinction and more likely to serve the devil, or believe they're God."_

Lydecker. Her father, her teacher, and her creator. One time, he had been everything to her. Now she saw nothing but darkness in his space.

_"A few heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, serve the state with their conscience and do not resist it, and they are commonly treated by enemies by it."_

Eva. The martyr. Zack. Her hero. Both of them were the most loyal. But serving their conscious branded them traitors.

**3:14**

Max looked at the final question stamped in dark ink.

_"Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why had every man a conscience then?"_

For the first time, she reread a section and was left with nothing. No thoughts, no understanding, not even a spark of an answer to come. She was left empty and confused. It was the question she had been dreading all her life. What was her purpose? Why was she really created? What would the training prepare her for? What crimes would she have to commit?

Why did she have a conscience when all she was suppose to be was a machine?

**3:15**

"You better walk fast, Ms. Guevara, if you want to intercept a copy of the fresh referral I sent home."

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**3:10**

Five more minutes and their session would be over. They would walk out of separate doors and Logan would never have to see his ex-wife again. He could even smell the alcohol across the table. Did she love wine so much she bathed in it, too? He used to believe he could find his wife in her again. There were times where her laugher would be the sweetest sound he ever heard. Now, he just wanted to get the divorce over. He had fallen completely out of love with her.

Now his heart remained secretly to an angel.

"I don't want a divorce." Valerie admonished. "My family doesn't believe in divorce!"

Logan blinked as Valerie's voice echoed through the room. Her lawyer closed his jacket before clearing his throat. "What my client means is because of her religious belief, it's unacceptable for her to give consent to the divorce."

"Then give her an annulment. She was probably drunk during the marriage ceremony anyway." Logan sneered.

Valerie grimaced. "Can't you see I'm sorry, Logan? God, you can't even see how damn sorry I am!"

"Not when I can smell the liquor across the table." Logan shot back.

"Alright, that's enough." Logan's lawyer replied. He took a deep breath in as the tension rose significantly between the two feuding couple. He had known Logan for the longest time. He wrote up his parent's will, helped his family's estate after their untimely death, and even helped him research his inheritance into the right investments. A lawyer for Cale Industries, he felt compelled to help the son of the heir to the largest company in Seattle. However, divorce wasn't his forte. Corporate law was.

On the edge of the seat, Logan raised his sleeve to see the face of his watch.

**3:11**

He wanted to throw himself out the window just to end the misery. Fear of heights wouldn't stop him. The redhead was enough reason to run. Words past through his lawyer's mouth. Were they discussing division of property or spousal support, he didn't know, and he didn't care. One thing he knew, she wasn't getting anything. He was already ashamed by Aunt Margo and scolded by Uncle Jonas by ever believing the pretty thing could stay a good thing. Funny how they praised him on finding a nice girl, then blamed him for it when things turned sour. But, damn he would be if he allowed any of the Cale property to fall into her hands.

Everything stayed in the family. Everything. Even the secrets and the lies.

"The rights to the equitable distribution of the marital property vest at the time of the parties' separation. The division of the things gained by both parties within the two year span is up for distribution."

Two years he thought he was in love. Two years. Two years he'll never get back.

"In most equitable distribution actions, Mr. And Mrs. Cale, the statues do not permit one party to recover legal fees from the other party. Do you understand that you'll be financing your way through the divorce if it's agreed upon?"

Logan agreed. Valerie didn't. Just like the use to fight over that stupid rug. She charged the Persian carpet on her account but because it was on his floor, he had to reimburse her two thousand dollars. He didn't even like that ugly thing, yet he paid for it anyway. But, he wasn't going to remain silent anymore.

"Well, there is one small exception to this rule allows a discretionary award of reasonable legal fees to the owner of separate property who sues the other spouse to regain possession of a separate property removed from the marital home." Her lawyer fought back

Logan couldn't believe it. Valerie was suing him? Why? If she didn't want this divorce, was she making it harder by suing him?

"What could I have possibly taken from you, Val?"

"You took my car." Valerie fought back.

"I bought that car." Logan argued.

"It was a gift." She articulated.

Logan couldn't believe his ears. So, everything she wanted from the settlement was a gift?

"I love that car. I love the memories that come with that car." Valerie bitterly remembered as she put her palms down on the table. "You gave it to me for our first anniversary." She sincerely said, remembering the fonder times they both had.

He cared about Valerie, he really did. He wasn't blind in seeing she really was sorry. He just couldn't accept it when he knew she wasn't completely herself, when she was under the influence. If the car meant nothing to him but a car, why couldn't he bare to give it to her? Maybe he was so hurt from her betrayal that a part of him wanted to punish her. To make her feel as bitter about the divorce as he did.

He began to sweat. He looked at his watch seeing when he would be able to escape.

**3:14**

One minute more.

"I can't give you that car, Val."

She sat back, defeated. "I want half of everything then. I want part ownership of the penthouse. I want equal dates to cabin. I want half of your family checks. I want everything if you won't give me another chance."

Peter Sooth stood up from the desk and looked at the Logan Cale's soon to be ex-wife and her five-star lawyer. He wasn't going to be intimidated by some rich family court lawyer. Even if he spent his life in the corporate world, he did have ethics. He soon realized family court might have been even dirty and villainous than business law. Loved ones, stabbing each other in the back for a silly car or the condo. It sickened him. At least in the corporate courts there were rules. Anything goes with a woman scorned.

**3:15**

"Then we will see you and your client in court."

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TBC! 


	8. A Broken Wall

"Look at this, Theo."

His wife pressed the pink carbon copy in front of his face with anger. Theo watched as the bright, flimsy paper wave in front of his face as he sat on the couch, unable to care. He remembered a time when she got enough detention slips to make up for the both of them. But that was a time before the pulse, before things went sour.

Theo sniffled. What was he supposed to do? Ground her? Like that did anything, she'll find a way to sneak out anyway. He didn't know why, but nothing Max could do would be wrong in his eyes. He loved the girl like his own. Theo adored her. She was just a young, pretty girl trying to find her way in the world. She needed time to find out who she was. They just needed to support her.

"The guy completely nuts, Jacinda. Each one is because she's tardy. So what?" Theo shrugged, sitting back on the couch.

"So what? They'll see that she irresponsible when she applies to college. She'll never be accepted." Jacinda told him, begging him to be the disciplinarian. She wouldn't be able to take care of a rebellious teenager and a new baby. Jacinda put her hand over her large stomach and tried to calm her nerves. She loved Max just as much as her husband did, she was just concerned.

"Face it, she's eighteen and she hasn't even applied to one college. Not like we can afford it, Jacinda." Theo said realistically, with a hint of sadness that she didn't have the opportunities they never took when they were younger. "Look, she can make the runs at Jam Pony."

"She isn't going to be a bike messenger…" Jacinda bit her lip before her hormones kicked in and began to cry. Theo automatically got up and wrapped his arm around her, concerned. "She's so smart, Theo. I want to shake her and tell her how smart she is and tell her to at least try. She could be so much. She could be something we never were."

"I think we have a great life," Theo told her as he put his hand over his unborn son. "We have each other. We have our growing son. We have Max, and Max has us. She just had a horrible childhood, Jacinda. We don't have to ask her to know her parents did some real damage for her to end up on the streets."

"Sometimes, I just want to find her parents and rip them to pieces for what they did. I want to scream how perfect she is and how they could never have because she's mine." Jacinda sobbed at the top of her throat as her hands shook in a example of the how she wanted to put her hand on her mother's throat and just squeeze.

Theo kissed her forehead as he wrapped his arms around his wife. He brought her close to him and tried to soothe her out of her irrational behavior. But, Theo wanted the same. He wanted to hurt whoever took away the soul he knew Max once had. They knew the moment they brought Max home for a warm meal and a warm bath that she wasn't like normal children, who laughed and played. Her eyes were lifeless, but showed so much anguish and pain.

"I still have some pals from the war that still serve. Maybe I can get a hold of them and they could give Max a chance."

Jacinda laughed bitterly. "Max in the military?" She laughed again as she raised the pink slip up to his face. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

Theo laughed. He wouldn't want Max in the military either. He had enlisted out of high school, two years after the pulse, and he was sent to battlefront in the Balkans. He came back home a contaminated soldier. Now, he was dependent on the medication that kept him alive, a prescription that took away too much of their income. He could imagine loosing his Maxie in some other war.

The door opened and slammed shut. Jacinda automatically dried her tears before sitting up from Theo, holding the pink slip firmly in her hand. They both watched as she stayed preoccupied with her nose in that a book. She dropped her bag and began to pour a glass of milk without ripping her eyes from the page. Unusual, but completely like Max.

"If only you could be that interested in your schoolwork." Jacinda scolded as she pushed herself up from the couch. Max didn't tear away from the book, but acknowledge with her eyebrow raised. She reached over and tore the book from Max's hand. She let Jacinda take it as she picked up the glass of milk and brought it to her lips.

"Civil Disobedience. An essay by Henry Thoreau." Jacinda read.

Theo gave a light chuckle. "Deep stuff."

Jacinda dropped the book to her side and raised an eyebrow. "I don't get you, Max. You're intelligent enough to read Thoreau in your own time, but you can't finish basic algebra?"

"Maxie isn't challenged enough."

Jacinda eyed him. "You have to stop making excuses for her. This is her own fault." Her face softened as she snapped back to Max, trying to plead with her. "You're obviously brilliant Max, I mean, books on genetics and essays on history shows that you are. What keeps you from trying to succeed? You go to the best school in Seattle. Theo and I try our best to pay the rest so we can stay in Sector Eight. You can't thank us by actually above a D on your grades?"

Max was becoming tired with the interrogations about why she didn't try, why she wouldn't allow herself to succeed. She just wanted to be left alone, especially with such the heavy views she read from Thoreau's idealisms.

But instead of trying to make an excuse, she blinked, and admitted her failure.

The soldier in her was completely disappointed and abandoned her, marking her a traitor.

"You're right. Both of you." Max softly said as she put the glass on the counter. Jacinda blinked, bringing her head back in surprise. She was expecting a normal teenage fit and Max was known for her punk-ass mouth. Theo was only shocked. What happened to his spirited girl?

"That's it?" Jacinda asked. "You're not even going to explain why you haven't try?"

"What's the point?" Max asked honestly. "It's not going to make a difference in my life if I pass or not. It might make you happy, and I wish I really could make you happy, but it doesn't make waking up in the morning any easier."

"The point?" Jacinda whispered emotionally. "How do you know when you have nothing to be proud of?"

Max pressed her lips together, bitterly remember the escape years ago. She was proud of that, no matter how painful the night was to her. Eleven of her brothers and sisters escaped. She was proud that they were out there and not still at Manticore. But the fact remained, they were probably battling the same demons that haunted her to that day.

"What did they do to you Max?" Jacinda asked, taking a step forward. Theo automatically stood up and shook his head in disagreement. "Jacinda…"

"No, Theo. I want to understand, Max. I want to know what they did to hurt you this bad."

Max bit her lip hard from keeping herself from crying. She was her real mother, who loved her enough to call Max her own, to give a warm home for her no questions asked, and cared for her when she was sick. But, seeing her cry, reaching out to her to explain the reason for her darkness, it was too much for Max to handle. She could survive pain, but she couldn't stand seeing it in the one she did care for.

"You don't want to know."

Jacinda sniffled and stood strong, brave, and determined. "Yes, I do."

Max grimaced, letting the tears run down her cheek. Shaking her head now. "You wouldn't be able to handle it, Jacinda."

A sob escaped her mouth before she turned her back and retreated towards the bathroom. Max took a deep breath and picked up her backpack, looking at Theo's painful face. She couldn't face his stare, she didn't need anyone's piety. Not his. But a part of her wanted to run to him like the father he was and let him comb his fingers through her hair and tell her everything was going to be all right. God, she wanted a father as badly as any girl.

"I need some time to think." Max told him before she headed towards the door.

Running away from her problems was the only thing she knew how to do. She could deal with them, she couldn't cope, and she certainly couldn't explain them to people who just wouldn't understand. Max didn't want to burden them. She didn't want to drop her demons onto them. It was painful enough her dealing with them. How could a human manage?

The book burnt he hands as she ran through the streets. She wanted to run faster, but she remained conscious not to go too fast, but fast enough to make her believe she was outrunning her ghosts.

Just a little faster. Maybe they'll be gone when she turned the corner. Maybe she'll lose them.

It was an unconscious mistake when she found herself in front of Fogle Towers. She didn't have a direction just as she didn't during the escape. All she knew was to keep moving and her body and instinct would find refuge somewhere. A part of her didn't feel surprised when her eyes faced the grey door.

She took a stiff breath before she rang the doorbell. Logan answered, opening the door as she rolled the book in her hands. His face seemed indifferent when he saw her there. His eyes seemed stressed and trouble. He might have been exhausted by the way he slouched.

"Max, this is a surprise." He said wryly as her eyes looked up hopeful. "As much as I would love your company, I've had a hard day. It isn't the best time to hear your sarcastic remarks."

Max wouldn't let him close the door on her.

"You said that being a genetically engineered girl wasn't what it was all cracked up to be." Max looked up hopeful that the offer still stood. There was a small silence as she let go of her sarcasm because even she grew tired of it.

"I need someone to talk to." She whispered out before she began to cry.

Logan's jaw fell open as he opened the door. Max took a step in as he closed the door behind her. Was his angel really crying? Was she so exposed from the little crack he made? He couldn't believe it had to be that easy? Maybe the walls were breaking away long before he appeared in her life. Maybe he wasn't the only one trying to get through. Maybe Max had trying to break them down herself.

"Max…"

At that moment, she turned around and buried her face into his chest. Her arms reached up and grabbed a fistful of his sweater as she opened her mouth in a sob. He could feel her body convulse as her lungs tried to keep up her ragged breath. All he could do was bring his chin down on her head and wrap his arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Don't worry, Max. Everything's going to be all right. Shh…"

He hadn't expected the walls to come down so quickly. He hadn't imagined affecting her to a point that she had a complete nervous breakdown. Maybe had had laid things on too thick for such a short period of time. But the fact remained, he did, and she was crying into his chest like a little girl who had everything taken away from her.

All of her memories caught up with her. Now the wounds finally were reopened so they could heal the way they should have. But, this time, she wouldn't be alone, Logan vowed. He would help her anyway he could have. As his arms tightened around her small, yet powerful frame, he silently promised her she wouldn't be abandoned.

It took a few minutes for her to find a place where she could calm down. Logan moved her to the couch and she curled up near the arm like a small child. Max made use of her sleeve before Logan gave her a box of tissues.

"Look at me. Soldiers don't cry." Max grimaced. She shook her head. "That's one of my first memories. Zack looking over me and saying soldiers don't cry."

"Good soldiers, at least." Logan offered.

Max let out a laugh before another sob escaped from her body. She grabbed the tissue and covered her face with her hand. She looked out into the window, feeling a familiar sense of contentment as high up as they were.

"I felt inspire that there was someone normal, someone human who thought the same way. That soldiers were nothing more than machines, wooden soldiers that could fill any purpose, worthy as dogs, with commanders with the heart of a devil, and the ones who listened to the conscious were nothing more than marked the enemy."

Logan knew the book would touch some interest in her but he had no idea what sort of powerful impact it would have on her. She must have known unconsciously that her friends and family had been true, that she did have a purpose in this world, and it wasn't what Manticore created her to be.

"I don't know if you understand this, Logan, but I was given a purpose the first minute I was alive. Suddenly, it's been ripped from me."

Max looked destroyed. He didn't know how hard it would be to make the realization she should have made years ago. He thought she had moved on from the Manticore inside of her, but maybe that was keeping her back.

"I have to finally move on. Move on from Manticore." Max shook her head. "I just don't know how to do that." She gave a light sob as he stood up from the chair and placed his hands on her shoulders, pressing her against his as she began to cry again. Logan pressed her closer as her arm came to hang around his neck. Max just gave into him, letting her whole body melt into his.

"I told myself I would get out of Manticore, but the truth is…I'm still there."

Logan closed his eyes and listened to her torturing words. He wished he could take it away. No girl her age should be so conflicted and pained, not someone so beautiful, so gifted, and so special. His hand went down her back in comfort, running it back up and causing shivers to dance over her spine.

"How am I supposed to move on?"

For the first time, she began think beyond the next day. What would Monday be like? Would it be cold or rainy, or would she see the rare sun shine down on broken Seattle? What sort of noises would she hear? Would it be screaming, or perhaps laugher? Would it belong to her?

"Like anyone else, you have learn how to forgive your demons, and begin to go on with your life."

Forgive? Forgive Lydecker? Forgive her surrogate mother for selling her body? Forgive the grey castle that imprisoned her for so long? Forgive the Wyoming cold that she still felt on the back of her neck?

Max was not able to forgive anyone, not even herself. Logan decided he would do it for her. Forgive them all for her. Then maybe one day, the words would pass through her mouth and she would find the ghost already gone.

"Can I just stay here, just for a little while?" She asked, finding a warm place in the crock of his neck. The exhale that escaped his body when she curled against him came out a satisfied sigh. He automatically hugged her close in an answer, allowing her to become an extension of his body, and partly his soul.

"You can stay here as long as you want."

Max swallowed hard as she inhaled the scent of his cologne. It caused her eyelids to flutter close, remembering the perfect smell of cherries and the burnt match a night ago. If only she knew a part of her knew he wasn't playing with her when he kissed her, she would have kissed him right there.

"Thanks…for listening. For…caring."

Logan knew he broken down her wall from that moment on.


	9. Two Steps Back

**angelstryst - **Thanks for telling me Theo's wife's name. I went crazy trying to find it but I couldn't find anything but Theo's Wife in the transcripts. So, I fixed that. See, I would be hopeless without my reviewers:p Thanks for such great review!

**Chimera452Bast - **Thanks for all the questions...I'm hoping they will be answered soon when I go back writing the final chapters, which will be soon. Believe me, you'll get what you want in the end...I promise!

**Holly **- Thanks for the review. I understand you think it's unlike Max just to break down an cry. I was hoping I made it appear that Max kept going so long that when it hit her that she was everything she didn't want to be that she would cry. I didn't think it would be so unlike her since even Zack cried. Being out of Manticore mattered so much to her that I thought she would sort of have a break, and Logan pushing her wouldn't be any easier. Thanks for the review, I hope you continue to read the story!!!

**Babyangel86** - Thanks for the review!!! It means a lot to me that you think the story is worth continuing. I've been so busy lately that my mind it somewhere else than on this, I admit. Thanks!

**Mari83 - **Wow! Thanks so much the AMAZING review. It really makes my day when you review. :D Believe me, I was so geeky going through all that political literature for a fic while other people where actually studying it for the final exams when I wrote it. _It seems likely and understandable that Max is touched in this way by Thoreau's writing because she's the victim of the idea of a perfectly working, machinated state. _Ah! I wouldn't be able to say it any more beautiful that that! Dead on! Wow...I'm so happy your able to get the analogies, even for a silly little fic I write in my spare time! THANKS!!! 3

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A/N: Another long chapter for the weekend. I have a lecture today, five hours if I can count it...I hope you're having a better weekend that I will be. Err...So Enjoy!

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**Nine - Two Steps Back ** The knock was loud enough to startle the tenants below. Max didn't care, she had something she wanted and hell would be served if she didn't get it. She pounded her fist on his door one more time before she slide the paperclip from the papers. Max began to bend the wire and insert it into Logan's doorknob. 

A snap was heard and she opened the door without breaking a sweat. She peered her head into his apartment and listened for a sound of movement.

Quiet.

Max closed the door behind her and felt confident no one was home. She shoved the papers in her back pocket as she began to explore his apartment without restrictions. Moving to the bedroom, she slid the opalescent door wide open. Even through the darkness, she could see the bed that Logan and her had shared. She didn't know what made her reach out, maybe in hope that the memories would flash through her mind one more time. Her heart jumped in her throat as her hand ran over the bedspread.

"_What's your name?"_

A deep breath escaped from her lips as she sat down on the left side of the bed. Max let her back collapse under the soft mattress, bringing the side of her cheek against the velvety material of the blankets. She smelled fresh laundry. Max closed her eyes in a moment of weakness and when she cuddled close to his pillow, she could relive the very moment when his hands were holding her close.

Max swallowed away the vision as she lifted her head. She saw the lamp that stood, nearly repaired. The pads of Max's fingers caressed the long crack up the body of the porcelain. Max could still hear Logan laugh as she knocked the lamp off by ripping his clothes off. Blinking away the memory, her eyes caught sight of his nightstand drawer. She would be a fool if she didn't at least take a peek.

She slid the drawer and began to mess through the trinkets. Small coins he took out of his pocket before he went to sleep, an eyeglass case with a spare pair of glasses just in case, solution for the contacts he never wore, and a broken watch needing repair. Max smiled at his things. She didn't own little sentimental pieces. The things she always would have would be a bottle of Tryptophan, and that was an enough reminder of Manticore. Her heart soon stopped as her hands found a Victorian trinket box made from sterling silver. Her eyes read the light etching _'Catherine'_ with slight jealously. It was too beautiful for anyone, ever in her life, to give to her. It didn't make her want it any less.

Max shoved the box aside after seeing nothing was in it but the covering of deep blue velvet. She found pieces of a photograph ripped in half underneath the small heart shaped box. Max picked up the picture and mended the torn pieces together.

On the left, was Logan, smiling like a giddy boy. On the right was a picture of a redhead, icy blue eyes, and bright burgundy lipstick.

His Catherine, Max assumed.

Max sighed frustratingly as she put the two torn pieces back under the box and closed the drawer. She heard the jingle of his keys all the way from inside of the apartment as he unlocked the door. Max jumped, sitting up from his bed and pressing the wrinkles out of his bedspread. The feline part of her took over as she peered out before closing the door behind her.

She watched him, coming in with grocery bags on his hips. She told herself to call out to him, but, she blended into the shadows, becoming one with the darkness. It would only take Logan's hand to pull her out.

Suddenly, he snapped his head around and shook in fear. The bags dripped with a large thud and Max automatically assumed she had been caught.

"Jesus, Max."

Max frowned. "Sorry."

Trying to catch up with his breath, he knelt down and picked up the dropped bag. "You shouldn't break into people's apartments and do the whole cloak and dagger routine. I know it's the only thing you know how to do, and you're very good at it, but you gave me, a mere mortal, a damn heart attack."

Max couldn't help but let her lips twist into a smile. She followed out of the shadows, like a cat that was happy to have her master home again. She waited, peering at him in curiosity. It was almost like the time he had stared at Valerie, wondering, pressing, hinting about his birthday. Max had that look in her eyes, as if he had forgotten something important.

"Max?" Logan asked, concerned with that prodding look on her face.

Her eyes opened wide and burnt into body. "So?" Max asked incredulously.

Logan shrugged. It was all he could do. He had no idea why she snuck into his apartment or why he was tearing him apart with that scorn look of hers.

Max sucked in a deep breath before she tore the papers from her back pocket. She couldn't believe him. Figures to believe a man would remember any responsibilities. She put her hands on her hips as his curious gaze looked at the papers she handed him. A spark of realization hit him like a tossed brick.

"I passed everyone one of my midterms with an A. I even got an A in economics, and I hate economics."

Logan couldn't help but smile approvingly. He was amazed with her. She was perfect. The engineered machine she was supposed to be, and so much more. Logan knew if she used her gifts to her advantage, she would be able to do anything.

"Don't you remember?" Max interrogated. "Now I've done something, I want to know about what you've found."

"I think this calls for a celebration, first." Logan announced.

Max exhaled a deep breath in disbelief. "No celebrating. I want what you've found."

Logan turned his back when he took out a pot and started filling it with water, ignoring her. "I make a great pasta sauce that's hard to compare. Believe me, it's worth the wait."

Max shook her head. "No, I've been waiting ten years for _something. _I can't wait anymore."

"Sure you can." Logan smiled, turning around after he put the pot on high. "Another hour won't hurt." The smile on his face scared Max. She wanted this information like air to breathe with. But, all it took was that boyish grin of his to make her wait one more hour, just one more night. The soldier inside told her that smile would get her killed. However, she wanted that smile more than anything.

"Pasta?" Max asked skeptically.

Logan smiled as he began to take out the ingredients from the fridge. "Would you like an MRE better?"

Max's stomach turned. Freeze dried peanut butter and jelly crackers with powdered milk? It was enough to make her nauseous.

"No. Pasta sounds perfect."

Max sat down near the counter and watched with that feline curiosity that captivated Logan. He nearly measured too much of the tomato paste with her bright brown eyes looking at him. In a matter of minutes, she had the recipe stored away in her mind. One day, she'll make a meal for him and impress him more than his 'Catherine'.

"My mother loved Italian food. Her sauces couldn't compare to even Rago."

Logan turned his back and began to stir the full pot. Max eyes automatically fixed to the tote bag he carried his curriculum in. She wanted to assume information about her family hid underneath the black leather flaps, but a part of her just wanted to find things belonging to him. Despite being human, Logan was just a mystery to Max as her own barcode was.

"Who's Rago?" Max questioned.

Logan, continuing to stir his pot, smiled in humor. Being the comedian, he couldn't help take advantage the oblivious of the transgenic. When would he have another time where he knew more than her?

"He use to fight with Anakin Skywalker for the property out on waterfront." Logan couldn't suppress the chuckle that came out of him before turning to see her face. Max sat confused, completely oblivious to the pre-pulse characters he had spoken off. "Too bad the force backed out of the investment because Rago took over the whole block."

Max narrowed her eyes. "Is that that Italian restaurant that serves swordfish?"

Logan laughed, smiling. This wasn't funny anymore, it was just plain cruel.

"I'll take you there, one day."

"No thanks." Max automatically replied. "I don't eat fish."

Logan brought his head back in surprise. "A girl with feline DNA? Doesn't eat fish? It's not that bad." Logan reassured her after he questioned the unusual characteristics of his favorite X5.

Max's stomach turned at the childhood memory that flashed in front of her eyes at that very moment. Only Logan sent her back to Manticore so easily, but he could also take her away from her memories just as easy. She never met anyone who could do that.

"We were given a three week survival mission. We were placed in the middle of nowhere with no equipment or supplies. We lived off of three squares of salmon." She could remember her and Zane standing the in freezing water, ready to catch the fish with their bare hands. She could remember her hands smelling fowl. "We almost caught a wild turkey." Max smirked at the memory of all of her brothers and sisters running after the stupid bird, how her mouth watered at the fresh meat, and how crazy they went when they lost it.

"Good memory?" Logan questioned at the rare face of nostalgia.

Max's smile only grew. "It was only a turkey but it managed to make us loose our minds. If Lydecker wanted pure animal behavior right there, he got it. Even I went a little sketchy, I was so tired of fish."

"Alright, no fish." Logan smirked before turning back to the pot. Max only smiled. So Logan would take her out to dinner one night, would he? Her heart filled with anticipation as the sly smile remained in her memory.

Now, with his back turned, Max crept over to his briefcase. She slowly opened up the case and slip out the manila folder sitting at the top of the pile. Opening the folder her face met with her. She saw the picture that was taken for her school identification badge she was suppose to wear. Even if it was taken a few years ago, when she was fifteen. Max still thought she looked the same. Her hair had been slightly longer. Max never could get the nerve to cut it after the escape. It was so messy, uneven, and knotted. Even if she looked younger, her eyes were the same. Those were the eyes she woke up each morning. Manticore was still in them. They were still staring hopelessly on whatever they landed on. A child eyes were different, full of hope and happiness.

Max flipped the picture over as she saw her testing scores. She remembered coming in the first day, the General had smiled and welcomed her to the school. She appeased Theo and Jacinda by taking the entrance exams, honestly. She could remember the white and red blocks she had to put together as the General ran his watch clock.

Max's eyes ran over the chart. She tested a ninety percent above her average peers in each of her subjects. Though she did well in most, her vocabulary was significantly lower. Max only shrugged, not like they read Shakespeare in her developmental skills class.

Logan turned from the pot and saw her standing, completely involved with her permanent record. Logan opened his mouth in against her going through his things, but since the folder belonged only to her, he made no argument.

Max went through the copies of insubordination reports, something that made the folder thick and heavy. There was a semi-annual report given by her teachers on her progress. The clean and practiced script all read mostly the same thing; lacks discipline, unable to respond to encouragement, needs further guidance, obviously intelligent and bright, and the most painful, a hopeless cause.

Everyone had given up on her. The most horrible thing is that she wanted them to.

No, she didn't, Max argued. She wanted them to help her! She wanted them to save her! It was all just a cry for help, couldn't anyone see that!

When she turned the next page, she saw the countless pages that requested she would be expelled and her spot given to a more deserving and motivated student.

They were going to kick her out?

Her heart crashed the floor when she felt that the people she saw everyday lost faith in her. She couldn't think of anything more painful than someone giving up on her. She was about to fall and no one wanted to keep holding her hand. Her eyes watered when she turned to the next paper. It was a rebuttal.

Written by Kyle N. Matthews, Dean of Students.

The General.

He chastised her. Depraved her. Agreed with the other teachers how she was not determined and apathetic to her studies and future. But, there was a however. And Max saw the General in a whole new light.

_I believe in Maxine Guevara, not because my good conscious tells me so, but my heart. I can assuredly say that if Ms. Guevara is expelled from this program, all hope is lost for her. I have no plans on giving up on such a difficult girl, challenging as it may be. She has a gift and it's up to her if she chooses to use it. We can all expel her and get a problem child out of the way, or we can do what as educators we're suppose to: believe in her._

"They were going to expel me." Max said, slight shocked.

Logan could see that she was obviously wounded by this attack. Max was betrayed, outnumbered, and exposed. Now that she didn't have 452 to stand in front of, she didn't know what to do than to take offense. She hadn't known she created so much damage. She thought she had done good staying under the radar and blending in, when it was quite the opposite. She had done nothing but stand out. Max should have known she could never run from her gifts.

"Yes." He said effortlessly.

"The General was the only one who stood up for me." Max closed her eyes as she shut the folder close. "Figures." She mentioned with a bitter smile.

"He probably the hardest on you because he knows your potential."

Max cringed. "Sounds a lot like someone I used to know."

Logan instantly assumed she spoke of Lydecker with that ugly, twisted expression on her face. She slipped the folder back into his briefcase and tried very hard to accept that the General was only trying to help her. Stubborn as she was, she wasn't going to try to see the paternal concern he had over her all this time.

Max, with a dark stare, looked Logan in the eye.

"I can't wait anymore. I need to know what you found."

Logan turned to his briefcase and pulled out the other manila folder. Max snatched him from his hands and threw it into her backpack.

"You're not going to even open it?" Logan asked incredulously.

The look on her face was enough to stop him from hoping anything.

"I gotta jet."

Just as hard as she slammed the door closed, she shut him out.

He sniffed the air and smelt his sauce burning. His face carried an expression of loss when turned to take the ruined pot from the burner and turned back to see an empty chair in the corner.

Logan could only believe the pictures would give her another chance at hope.

* * *

Reviews make me happy, yeah yeah yeah. :D  



	10. Easter Day

* * *

Quick, and a little late, update. Sorry. I have to get to school in thirty minutes and still have like half of my art portfolio missing. Don't hold it against me...lol.

* * *

**Ten – Easter Day**

She felt like the folder was burning a hole in her bag. She wanted to grab it and rip it open, but she knew she had to wait until she arrived home. She didn't know what propelled her to slam the door on Logan's face. After all, she wanted that normal dinner, with him, talking about restaurants and unheard of chefs. It was the one time she shared a memory about Manticore with anyone. And, she actually smiled.

Just as she began to believe life could be seen through rose-tinted glasses, it disappeared as she saw how backless people could be to rip something that was so important from her hands.

Maybe she needed to see it. To realize how important her education really was to her.

To see that the man she used to hate was only expanding her potential, even how twisted it was.

She couldn't forgive him. No. Not after what he had done to Eva.

"_Like anyone else, you have learn how to forgive your demons, and begin to go on with your life."_

Damn, Logan. Forgiveness meant nothing. Not to her. She wasn't like anyone else. She wouldn't find comfort in forgiving her demons because they would always cover her like a rainstorm. Being the city of coffee, fish, and rain, she knew it would be rare to see the hope of sunshine.

Climbing the stairs, she unlocked the apartment door and found herself in a familiar environment. It wasn't long until the silence was interrupted.

"Here's the girl of the hour!" Theo praised as he jumped off the couch. Max turned around from locking the door to see Jacinda come out of the kitchen area with a bright maternal grin. She brought her head back, automatically suspicious.

"What do you want from me?" Max wryly asked, eying both of them by their movements. "If you want my sector pass, I stole it fair and square so you can just forget about it."

Jacinda's face didn't change despite not knowing about the crime Max committed three months ago. She waited four hours, upside down, to score those cards so she and Kendra could go clubbing in Sector 3. Damn if she almost risked vomiting just for them to take the passes away. Theo just shook his head, trying to remain blissfully unaware to his adoptive daughter's troublemaking.

Jacinda shook her head as she lifted up the slip of paper. "You passed your midterms. All of them. Mr. Matthews says you got the best grade in all of your classes."

Max blinked.

Oh, that's what they were talking about.

Theo came over and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He gave her a good squeeze before kissing her on the temple of her forehead. "I'm so proud of you, Maxie. I knew you could do it."

Max didn't know what was exactly happening. What was the huge deal? It didn't take that much effort to pass. They didn't know that, but they saw the success of her grades and insisted Max had worked hard. After all, she made the choice of passing or failing. That was effort enough.

"I think this is a call for a celebration! We can go to that noodle place on the corner, you like so much. You can have as much fried rice as you want." Theo added.

"We never doubted you, Max. I just don't know what got into you to pass." Jacinda said, teary eyed. The look on Jacinda's face was enough to touch Max in a way she never been. Her maternal cheer and the content smile cause Max to fall into pieces. She reached out, and in an extraordinary moment of emotion, Max clasped her arms tight around Jacinda's back as she leaned into her chest. She could even feel the little baby inside kicking against her abdomen as she squeezed Jacinda closer.

Jacinda let out a relieved cry as her palm went to cradle the back of her head. Jacinda thanked the good Lord as Max buried her face in the crook of her shoulder. She had never felt as complete until Max clung to her like a daughter who had been separated from her mother since birth. Max had finally found the mother she had been longing for all her life. She felt so warm and safe. It was the most rare moment she ever experienced.

"I love you, Max."

Max expected her heart to stop. Instead, it felt like it then beat with purpose.

She licked her full lips and felt nothing stopping her from the three words she promised she'd never utter. "I love you too," Max's cheek brushed softly over her soft shoulder. She closed her eyes in the perfect moment of security. She attempted to speak the first words on her path to absolution. It came out a whisper, but she heard it clear enough. When that one word was spoken, Max let her heart open, finally, completely, and for the first time. "…Mama."

In that moment, the world stopped revolving for the both of them. Jacinda Guevara's heart beat with an overwhelming duty to protect and adore her children. She never carried Max inside of her body, she never given birth to her, and she never watched her say her first words or walk her first steps. But, she knew there was nothing could stop her from being her real mother by those two words. Their souls were connected, just as any mother and daughter.

Tears escaped through her eyes as the happiness brought to her seemed like absolute pain she would gladly endure. Kissing her forehead, she wrapped her arms around Max's body and held her closer. She was so small, so warm, and so soft. Jacinda let her head roll back and whispered gratitude to the heavens. Bliss, absolute bliss.

Max pulled back and Jacinda cupped her round face in her hands. A tear escaped from Max's face as she found nothing but warmth in an environment she believed would feel lonely and dark. She was so surprised by it.

Uneasy, she turned her head to the side. "Is it alright to call you that?"

Jacinda grimaced before she let out an overjoyed sob. "Of course," she said breathlessly before she pulled her back in.

Max pulled back with some carefulness. She gave her a lopsided smile before wiping the cheese from her blotchy cheeks. "I just give me a few minutes to clean up."

Jacinda nodded and Max escaped to her room. Jacinda licked her lips before letting out another cry. "Did you hear her, Theo? She called me Mama." Jacinda wrapped her arms around Theo and squeezed him tight, taking the support of her husband for the strong man he was.

"She called me Mama."

Max took a deep breath of confidence when she entered her room. She closed the door behind her and took a good look around her room. There wasn't much. Graffiti walls that Theo tried to paint over because they had been obscene for a fifteen-year-old to read. It didn't do much, it still showed when there was enough light.

Max had some of her clothes pied together in a large lump. She needed to take them down the Laundromat, but she had too many things on her mind such as Logan Cale.

She had a few pictures of herself, one when they first got her off the street, Kendra and Sketchy at school, and one solely of herself. The one her first foster family took. Her hair had just beginning to grow out, but still wasn't more than an inch long. Lucy's mother made her put on a humiliating emerald taffeta dress. It had puffy sleeves, a peter-pan collar, and she even fashioned it with patent Mary Janes. Max remembered looking in curiosity as Lucy put a matching bow in her hair. She looked like a doll, and Lucy looked even just as fantasy like. Like Alice in Wonderland with the blue dress and crisp white apron.

Max looked in the camera with Lucy on her arm and wicker baskets in hand. They both had something to smile about after celebrating Easter Day.

It was a happy day, Max remembered. All the girls her age wore fancy dresses and hats. It was almost like a fairy tale to the young Max, who had never thought of her a princess in the warm spring sun. It was her good place come true. Even Lucy laughed and she still couldn't recall a time when she did.

But, there was no such thing as the good place, Max should have known. When they came home, Lucy 'accidentally' fell down the stairs and broke her arm.

Max wanted so much to only remember the painted eggs, all the candy she could ever ask for, and the first time she spun in a circle so hard she fell down laughing. But Lucy's cries kept her from remembering it. It was just too painful.

That picture did serve a reminder, that she had been happy as a child. For just one glorious day in a frilly dress and a ribbon in her hair, she had been a little girl and not soldier.

Max knew it was time to open up her bag. A part of her wanted to remain blissfully ignorant about the others. If it had been bad news, she wouldn't imagine going on with life the same. But…it could be everything she had hoped for.

For all the patience she had to get to that moment, Max couldn't wait any longer. She tore through her bag and took out the folder in frenzy.

There was a glossy picture of a man's hand raising short blonde hair to show a barcode.

The lines burnt into Max's eyes like fire.

330417291599

Max slipped the picture over and saw her CO, her oldest brother and her caretaker from birth. Her heart stopped when she knew he had made it out after all. It shouldn't surprise her. But, it did. She had spent all those years believing Manticore got him during the escape. She should have known he would sacrifice himself for them all, but never abandon them, ever.

She lifted the picture and saw the federal paperwork from a juvenile corrections center out by Salt Lake City. He was arrested for armed robbery as Michael Hanover. She could see him, the hero he was with a gun trying to hold up a full bank at the age of twelve. It brought a smile to her face.

Then the smile grew.

Escaped Easter Day, after only four hours in custody.

They shared a common thread even after their escape.

So, maybe she did have a reason to love that picture after all.

* * *

TBC 


	11. 2 AM

**A/N: Be warned, this chapter has very grotesque imagery that might not be agreed with with some. You're warned.**

* * *

**Eleven – 2 A.M.**

**2:01 AM**

Blood.

Everywhere there was blood.

Flashes of her first kill went through her head. The snap of the twigs and sticks under her sneakers as she ran to find her prey. The smell of flesh as she tore it with her own fingers. The taste of blood on her lip, it all of it excited her. And, it all of it made her physically ill at the same time. She wanted to scream out in horror but the soldier told her it would expose her. It was an emotional reaction and she had no room for emotions.

She didn't know what to do.

She didn't know anyone else to think of but him. He would take care of her. He would protect her, because if she needed protection, she needed it then. The threat was eliminated, but she still had to protect her from herself.

She wanted to reach out for something. Scream, bite, rip, and kill anything that was remotely flesh.

The animal inside was crawling successfully through.

* * *

**2:01 AM**

Logan couldn't sleep.

Not while something seemed off.

It seemed like a normal Seattle night. It was raining, heavily. The fog had rolled through the streets and he could hardly see a yard out of his penthouse. Pea soup, his mother had told him as a child. He couldn't help not remember the murder on a night like this. An assassination. A sniper was waiting up on the roof across from the restaurant they were at celebrating their twentieth anniversary. He wasn't even there. He was in boarding school across the country talking about who got a better car for their birthday.

He was discussing some vain, meaningless car while his parents were shot.

The bullet penetrated his father's heart first. Witnesses claim he went down first and as his mother cried over him, the sniper took out the back of her head.

While he was talking about some trivial car.

Closing his eyes, he leaned the cold glass against his forehead. It felt refreshing as the heat in his body began to rise. Something wasn't right and he couldn't ignore it any longer. He sat up and went to the telephone. He had to make sure Max was okay. Every fiber in his being was screaming at him to make the call. What if the line was crossed again?

His mother told him nothing mattered if it was true love.

She hadn't been anything impressive compared to the Cales. She had gone to community college, worked several years in the mailroom at Cale Industries to support his sick grandmother, and when she met the head the son of her employer, not even conceited relatives could stop them from marrying. She had been young compared to his father, ten years in fact, but that didn't hold them back.

Logan couldn't imagine any two people more in love than his mother and father.

Hitting speed dial, he waited for an answer.

"_I'm sorry, but the number you have reached had been disconnected. If you like to make your call again, pleasing hang up and try again."_

Logan's heart stopped.

Something was _very_ wrong.

He got and his car and drove.

He knew Max was in trouble.

* * *

_**6 Hours Earlier…**_

_**9:30 PM**_

Max itched at the polyester material of her black dress.

"You look amazing." Kendra complimented as she brought out a glittery red dress from her bag. Max saw the pre-pulse nature of the man-made fabric and pushed it away with her hand.

"I'll think I'll go with the black, thanks." She said dryly as she pulled down the short hem of the little black dress. It was something Kendra could have bought on the boardwalk strip in Atlantic City. However, it was the only thing that fit her. Kendra had a tad more voluptuous body than Max's rather petite figure.

Max lifted up her nose when she mentally remarked how broad her shoulders were. "How do I look amazing?" If Max knew, she was having one of those absurd teenage self-esteem moments. X5's had two ignorant factors, they refused to believe they were even slightly attractive, and they believed they were smarter than anyone else. While Max refused to believe she remotely beautiful, she knew that some people were smarter than her.

Kendra just rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to even flatter you anymore. Not while you got a teacher starring at you every moment he gets."

Max turned around, not understanding her implications. "What do you mean by that?"

"Oh, so we're denying it, are we?"

Max's face stayed blank.

Kendra shook her head and dropped the red dress back into her laundry hamper. "I've seen the way Mr. Cale looks at you. He calls on you almost every time he asks a question…not to mention trying to look down your shirt when he collected our essays the other day."

Max's mouth gaped open. "He tried looking down my shirt?"

Kendra giggled as her whole face turned into shock. "So there is something between you two?" Kendra automatically came over and looked over Max's shoulder as she peered in the mirror. "You dirty little whore. You slept with him for the answers to the midterm."

"No." Max automatically replied. She worked hard for those grades. While she could have been walking the streets, exploring the streets of her beloved city, she was inside studying her ass off. "I worked fair and square for those grades."

"Yeah, on your back?" Kendra devilishly replied.

Max instantly rolled her eyes. "Logan and I aren't like that."

"Logan?"

Her eyes shut as she mentally kicked herself from using his first name. "Look, he helped me in a really hard time last month. If he hadn't helped me study for the midterms, I would have gotten expelled. We just friends now."

"And you're 18," Kendra added, trying to imagine something that just wasn't there—at the moment, anyways. "Not like there's anything stopping you two."

"No, the fact that he's my teacher isn't sick or perverted in anyway." Max quipped back at her blonde.

Kendra shrugged as she took out her purple lipstick and began to spread it around her thin lips. "It's sort of kinky if you ask me."

Max shook her head incredulously. "That's just like you," she muttered as she began to run her fingers through the curls of her raven hair. She let herself smile, understanding that she wasn't the only one who saw the adoring eyes that looked on her everyday. Giving a finished sigh, she looked over to Kendra in an excited look. "Ready to go?"

"I can't believe you scored those Sector passes." Kendra mumbled as she took the temporary card in her hand. "I wish they gave these things to students."

"Boo-hoo." Max mocked as she put her leather jacket over her bare shoulders. "That's why you got me."

"A few more months and I'll be learning Japanese from Naku Tamashi." Kendra looked at Max with a curious glare. "What's your plans after school? I haven't heard you talk about it."

Max stood bewildered, unable to think of one thing she wanted to do. Logan kept spewing propaganda that she could whatever she wanted or dreamed about. Truth is, she hadn't dreamed of anything special. Not being hunted by a black-ops sector of the government, besides that, nothing.

"I have no idea." Max confessed.

* * *

**2:24 AM**

Logan pressed the elevator button continuously until he abandoned that plan and moved towards the stairs. He skipped two steps and tried his best to get up there in a hurry. Coming to the fifth floor, his breath was ragged and worn out, but he didn't notice. It was the thought of Max hurt that scared him the most.

He could imagine her. Dying, needing him.

A imagine of his parents flashed into his mind. Them crying for each other before one last memory of their son came and went as quick as that bullet left the pointed gun.

Logan ran out into the hallways and saw Max in sleek black dress glistening with some sort of liquid. He couldn't see what it was until he came closer and saw this liquid splattered on the roundness of her breast, up the side of her neck, and on the left side of her face. It was blood, coving her from head to foot. Logan gagged as he saw her, starring at nothing as she leaned against the wall, quiet like the soldier she was made to be.

"Max?" He quickly approached her, imagining that it was her blood that was all over her. "Are you hurt?" He said breathlessly as he searched her body.

Max held up her hands, soaked in bits of dark flesh and caked blood. Logan lost his ability to swallow when her eyes cut into him with a deadly glare.

"They're dead, Logan." Max muttered as a tear escaped down her eye, turning pink as it caught the path of blood. She could remember coming home, the vibrations of the music still pouncing through her veins. She could still hear Kendra's screams over the loud techno music as they celebrated the end of the week. But it all vanished when she came home and the door was open…and inside…she shook her head in denial.

"I didn't do it…" Max had to tell him that she didn't do it. She knew she was capable of it. Only if Logan knew it too.

Logan finally managed to swallow before he entered the apartment with caution.

The smell of blood was the strongest thing in Logan's nose. It filled the air as fowl as any odor. The lamp had been knocked over and the light flickered off and on as he turned the corner to the living room. His body reacted, hulling over and vomiting over the carpet. He wiped his mouth when he took one last look at the three bodies that lay dead on the floor.

Logan stood up and closed his eyes when he saw what Max had witnessed. Theo and Jacinda, their bodies were bloody and bruised. The killer had like to use several objects from the kitchen after he had invaded the home. It was obvious that Trish no longer held her son within her body. Theo had lost his nose by the meat hammer that lay by his side. That blood that had been pooling on the floor would carpet Logan's mind for the rest of his life.

Twelve victims. First her school teacher, now both of her parents.

Thirteen counting Baby Omar.

He came out, just as daze as Max stood against the wall.

"They're gone…they're gone. Just like Eva and Jack…they're gone." Max ran out of breath before her mouth dropped and she slid to the ground, unable to support herself. "They're gone." She cried.

Logan knelt down, bringing her head under his chin as the tremors violent shook Max. He could remember falling to the ground, the nurse wrapping his arms around him to tell him that his parents were in a better place. Max's good place didn't exist anymore. How could it when everything that made it hers had been ripped from her so unfairly?

That night, both of Max and Logan's demons caught up with them.

And they lost.

* * *

Questions...I know you have them. 


	12. Broken Doorbell

**Chapter Twelve – Broken Doorbell**

At Max's feet lay three deep holes in the earth. The grass under her shoes seemed so green and lively as the caskets of the dead sat buried six feet under. The vibrant green contrasted to the darkness of the soil and the deep orifice that waited to be filled with her family. The fridge wind blew through the hair and caused a shiver to shoot through her spine. As she inhaled in response, the cold air filled her lungs with a killer pain. She hadn't been so afraid of the winter since the escape.

"God of love, we thank you that Thelonious, Jacinda, and little baby Omar is in your gentle and loving hands, far away from the cruelty, violence and pain of our world. When the trouble was near, we could not understand how you seemed to remain far away."

The words of the Father seemed so rich and powerful. She wanted to turn everything off like a switch. Max expect the numbness to remain, she even welcomed it. Discovering their murdered bodies stretched out in the blood soaked carpet put her into a warm shell of denial where not even the winter could touch her. It faded so quickly when reality began to set in. Now, everything seemed so deep and rich. The sounds hurt her ears, the colors too bright for her eyes, and even the sense of touch brought the memory of pain and torture.

"And yet it is to you we turn, for in life and death, it is you alone whom we can trust and yours alone is the love that holds us fast."

Her eyes ripped from the three caskets and saw Logan's hand holding her close to his body. He hadn't left her alone since that night. As her eyes searched the crowd, she could see a few concerned eyes staring at her. The General even seemed somewhat sympathetic and mournful for her loss. Yet, through the public exposure, Logan pulled her close to him without fear. Turning her head up, she saw the grim look on his face as his eyes set sight on the smallest casket.

"We find it hard to forgive the deed that has brought us so much grief. But we know that, if life is soured by bitterness, an unforgiving spirit brings no peace."

Max closed her eyes and imagined the murder in her head. She imagined Theo jumping over to protect his wife and unborn son. She could hear the screams as Trish was gutted like a fish. Just as Max began to forgive the demons inside of her, she had another one to fight against.

Max just wanted to give up and surrender.

"Lord, save us and help us. Strengthen in us the faith and hope that Thelonious, Jacinda, and Omar Guevara are eternally freedom. Let us pray for the daughter they left behind and the Lord's guidance over her life. Lord, let her rest forever in the power of your forgiveness and security of your love. In Jesus, we pray."

Max caught the sob that would have escaped before Logan turned her from the caskets and directed her to the car. Max could feel the soft earth under her shoes as the black crepe chiffon brushed against her thighs step after step. Kendra had given her the dress to wear, even if she should have turned up her nose and vowed never to wear a dress, she couldn't find the effort not to. Logan had told her she looked lovely, but it was in all hope of making the day easier.

Logan opened the car door and offered a hand for Max to help. When she took it, he gave her hand a tight squeeze before she sat in the passenger side and shut the door. He watched as the General stepped carelessly through the mud towards him. With his face, the general tried to remain stoic, but Logan could see the regret over his face.

"How is she, Cale?"

Logan assumed she could be better, but comparing the brutality of the past few days, she was doing surprisingly well. "She'll survive."

The General nodded. "She's a tough girl. She'll make it through."

Logan could see the plain concern written over his face. Logan felt surprised that he cared so much for her, but it wasn't surprising. Logan had known her for a short time compared to him, and he was utterly head over heels. He could imagine that the military side of him had found something familiar in Max and had the natural drive to be concerned about her.

"I don't want her fall behind the other students." He said sharply.

"I'll bring her work home to her." Logan promised with a nod.

"She's alright staying with you?" He questioned, wondering if it was slightly awkward or inappropriate. "But a rich kid like you probably can support her."

Logan blinked. "I have an guest room, if that's what you mean."

Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the younger man and nearly gave Logan a heart attack with his stare. "Max is a very special girl, Mr. Cale. I will not be pleased if you stand in her way. I will not allow you to enable her neglect to her school work."

His eyes remained on the man, slightly terrified from his words. Being in agreement, it didn't take much to regain his composure and replied, "Max will never be held back by anyone. Her stubbornness is proof of that."

The General had to suppress the smile that was slowly appearing on his thin lips. He took one good at the traumatized girl in the car before returning to his own. Logan turned and walked over to the driver side. Slipping inside the car, he gave one look at Max before turning the key in the ignition. She had remained vapid and unsure of her movements. It wasn't like anything he ever seen in her. But even his parent's death had caused some damage.

"I don't want to your apartment." She told him as he took the stick out of park and into drive.

Logan narrowed his eyes. He automatically recalled the luncheon. Was she going to forget the people that were to shortly arrive at their apartment? After all, she was the only intimate relative to Theo and Jacinda left.

"I just see them. I can't let anyone tell me one more sorry." Max turned her head over her shoulders and pleaded with Logan. "Can we go somewhere…just you and I."

He agreed, having no idea where they both could go.

Instead, they just drove.

* * *

When they would arrive at the mess hall, the trays would already be set out for them. Contact with anyone else but their TAC leaders and authorized superiors were strictly prohibited. They would come to the lunchroom, rows of two, and sit in unison. There would be no talking as they ate, but at times, the two youngest would send morose codes on their palms discreetly under the table. The food wasn't anything special, selectively picked for their growing bodies and activity needs.

But, there were times under scientific observation they were given absolutely nothing to eat.

It was a week before they all began to fall like flies.

And it had been a week since Max put anything in her mouth. Maybe she could make Lydecker proud and see if she could go longer than a week. She probably could, it wouldn't be that hard.

But Logan wasn't going to let her.

The cold of the freezer hit his chest hard as he opened the door. He took a look at the cartons of ice cream that were surprisingly filling the freezer. He had checked the convince store a few days before and the fridge was hardly stocked. Now he had the choice from vanilla and chocolate. Not letting the opportunity pass by, he grabbed two cartons and brought it up to the cash register.

"35.50 please." The teenager replied as she turned the page of her magazine.

Logan's mouth hung open. "For two cartons of ice cream?"

She shrugged. Money didn't matter. It wasn't for him anyway. He put down a fifty and waited for her to give him back his change and put the chocolate ice cream into a paper bag. Moving towards the door, he aimed to bring Max out of reverie.

Making it to the door of his apartment, he switched the ice cream to the other hand after he began to loose feeling from the cold. When he got his keys ready for the door, two colorful teenagers waiting at the door stopped him.

"Maybe the doorbells broken." The blonde's raspy voice hit a familiar string as her knuckles knocked at the door with a powerful clack at the wood.

"Doorbell's not broken." Logan told them. The two snapped around and saw the faces of two of his students. "Max is just ignoring the door."

Kendra and Sketchy looked at each other before Logan went to unlock his door. He didn't even want to find out how two of his students found out where he lived. If two teenagers could, than Seattle police could in a heartbeat, or even worse, Manticore.

"Do you think it would be possible to see Max, Mr. Cale?" Kendra asked concerning. Sketchy's face even showed a great amount of sadness at his best friend's loss.

"I really wish I could, but Max doesn't want to talk to anyone." Logan told them as he inserted his keys into the door.

"When do you listen to what Max says?" Sketchy questioned softly.

Logan smiled amused, but if it didn't matter, he would have let the pair in. "You two know how Max is. Give her a little time and before you know it, she'll be visiting you."

Logan turned the doorknob and didn't open the door too far before stepped through.

"C'mon, Mr. Cale." Kendra pleaded.

"This isn't the best time right now. I'll tell you when she's ready to see guest in class." Logan closed the door with a painful breath before he turned to the kitchen. Putting the ice cream in the freezer, he took out some of chicken below to thaw for tomorrow's dinner. He had been preparing non-stop culinary miracles in hope to lift her spirits. But every meal was in hope to lift her spirits. Max hadn't even stepped one foot from the bed.

Logan went towards the guest room and slid the door open. Max was lying on her stomach, sleeping, just how he left her when he went to school that morning. Logan moved to the nightstand and saw the breakfast he put out on the tray untouched and souring. Logan shook his head, disapproving. She was going to start wasting away if she didn't eat something.

It was such a rare, sunny day. And what was she doing? Sleeping.

Logan pressed his lips together as he went over to the window and parted the curtains, bringing in the bright sun to the burgundy walls.

He turned when she heard her moan and brought her hand up to shield her eyes from the penetrating light. She muttered something along the lines of 'leave me alone' before she buried her head in the pillow.

Such a pathetic attempt for a trained soldier, Logan assumed. If she wanted him gone, he would be on his butt, twenty stories below.

"Max, it's three in the afternoon."

The better part of him told him to stay away from her. He had always known she was a genetically engineered killing machine, but it never really hit him, he never fully realized what the animal inside of her really could do. How could he have been so naïve and foolish? How could he not see who Max really was.

Then the ignorant side of Logan told him that Max really was a scared, abused little girl. A beautiful woman who would soon find her way, it was only a matter of time.

Max was a woman that he loved unconditionally.

He put his knee onto the bed and Max felt the bed dip slightly as he crawled over the sheets. Her round eyes closed tight as knew he was moving towards her. Logan rested on his side before reaching out and pulling her silky black hair away from her neck. His fingers traced the thick lines of the barcode she had been born with. He had never been so transfixed by anything before. It didn't even seem like a tattoo but a dark birthmark that would never fade. All of his curiosity was consumed by it. He wanted to know more.

But the more he learned, the more frightened he had become.

"Logan…" It came out as a tired sigh, but it was enough for her to turn on her back. He admired her in the bed, how she looked so angelic against the white sheets. He secretly wished she wore brighter colors than the blacks and grays she did. Not all of her was so dark.

Logan's hand came to his side to hold him over her as she gave a huge yawn.

"I thought you didn't sleep."

Max's lip twitched. "I don't." She visibly gave it some thought before she replied, "I must be able to train my body to sleep if I choose." Max inhaled and put her hand over her forehead. She never felt so fatigued in her life. Her body felt so heavy and lifeless, she couldn't imagine putting her feet on the floor in an attempt to stand.

"You should eat something." Logan told her, looking at her with concerned eyes.

"I'm not hungry."

Logan closed his eyes. "You haven't even touched your school work."

"Do you expect me to?" Max shot back annoyingly.

Logan closed his eyes in frustration. Taking Max's hand in his own, his fingers slide between hers. He couldn't find a way to stop himself from bringing her hand up to his mouth to kiss. Her skin was so delicate and small in his. Logan was just overcome by her perfection. Overcome by love.

Her skin was so cold under his lips, but she knew he could warm them up in her palms. Just if Logan could keep them in her stay a little more, he could convince Max she was everything she could be. That she could be that woman inside he fell in love with on that indefinite night.

Max's hand tingled with electricity as he honestly kissed the backside of her palm. She couldn't let him. All he wanted to do at that moment was take her out of her darkness and show her the light. And, all she wanted to do was to remain in that darkness. It was everything she had ever known in her life.

Stomaching her real desires, Max pulled her hand from his.

"We can't Logan."

Max immediately shut her eyes, begging herself not to cry. It was so difficult. The burning impulse to put her head in his lap and ask him if he would love her like a father, protect her like her brother, and love her like a husband was ignored with agony.

Logan tried to reach out for her again. "I-"

Was he going to say he loved her? Max reaction time was twice, maybe triple the amount of time of a human. So when she knew instinctively he was going to tell her that he loved her, she needed to shut the door permanently.

"Get out."

Logan shook his head. He didn't want her to take it that way, but how else was she going to react? "Max, I—"

"Get out, Logan." She interrupted him with her crisp voice. If he asked one more time, that voice would come cracked and emotion. She prayed he wouldn't.

Max felt the weight shift off the bed and mentally cursed him for not fighting for her. She didn't want anything to do with someone who wasn't going to fight tooth and nail for her. Couldn't he see that she wanted him to stay? Max could imagine him reaching out to her, bringing her body into the warm embrace the once shared, and whispering how beautiful she was in her ear.

But she denied him. She had to. Heartache was the one natural thing she knew.

God, if she need his love more than anything, it was then.

* * *

Big chapter, reviews matter. :D 


	13. Picking Yourself Up

A/N: I'm getting quite bored with this fic, but I continue to write no matter how much I want to begin a new one, because I will finish it, no matter what. But, there are quite a few dry spots here and there because I'm so bored without a climatic scene. It's all building up to it, don't worry!

  
Thirteen – Picking Yourself Up

"I don't know if…"

Logan turned off his ignition as Max began to have second thoughts. "You need to get out, put your mind on something else." Logan told her as he undid his seatbelt. Max's eyes went to her window where she tried to shift uncomfortably out of his sight. He had pulled her from the bed, grabbing her by the arms and brought her to her feet. She, like a normal teenager, resisted at first. Then, to please him, had gotten dress to get him off her back. Now she regretted ever putting on the dress.

_You wouldn't have put on such a lovely dress if you unconsciously didn't want to go out,_ her mind told her.

"C'mon." He got of the car and walked around to open her door. Max jumped out, ignoring his hand and landed on her feet. He smiled, knowing a well brought up girl would have taken his hand and stepped out, but his Max wasn't like any other girl. He wouldn't want her to be either.

They both entered the Italian restaurant, Logan a bit more excited than Max He pulled out her chair and Max felt a little uneasy when he did so. She didn't know this sort of etiquette and she began to feel out of place. One thing that was probably the most common feelings were fear and not fitting in. Funny for someone made to be a chameleon and to blend in with the surroundings effortlessly. Let's say there was one thing Max couldn't truly fake without some awkward thoughts.

Max was handed the menu and she starred pointlessly at it. She wasn't hungry anyway. But, she was sure Logan would order for her if she didn't. She looked up from the menu and stared at Logan, looking over his menu and making slight noises at the delicious descriptions.

Having enough of the silence, Max threw down her menu.

"I want to find him."

Logan looked up from his menu and saw Max's eyes full of anger and pain. She was serious. She wanted to hunt that insane murderer down and kill him, no less. He couldn't allow that. Logan could allow her to ever do that to herself.

"Max…" Logan began, sympathizing with her at first. There would always be that vengeful need inside of him too, but he knew it was a side he couldn't listen to. He knew more pain would be unleashed that closure.

Max shook her head. "No, Logan. I know what I want and I want to find who took my family away from me." She sat back and crossed her arms. "If it would have been you I would want the same thing."

Logan starred darkly. "Am I supposed to be flattered?" He began, peering over the table. Max began to grind her jaw before turning away from his pressing stare. "That suddenly it's alright for you to ruin everything you've worked so hard for?"

Max snapped her head back and lifted her chin defiantly. "I'm not going to get caught."

"That makes it okay just because you won't get caught?" Logan questioned her. He took a deep calming breath, ignoring all of his good breeding and placed his elbows up on the table. He searched deep inside for the strength to allow her to go off in her revengeful pursuit. Instead all he could think of was her lying in a ditch somewhere, slaughtered from the inside out. "You want to continue this cycle Max, I know I can't stop you. But…" He shook his head, sitting back in his chair and connecting with her angry brown eyes. "You're not the woman I thought you were if you did."

Max blinked, breaking her furious stare. Logan let the subject drop, leaving Max to deal with the disappointed mentor sitting across the table. She had spent months trying to make him proud. Why him? He was the first one to really care unconditionally about her. To him, it didn't matter who she was or what she was. All she wanted to do was thank him for that.

She just couldn't disappoint him, no matter the circumstances.

"I want justice." Max said, tears filling in her eyes. "Nothing you could say could change that."

Logan pressed his lips together and nodded. "I know." He sat back up and leaned over the table in an attempt to come close to her. "But killing him isn't justice."

"You found all those things on Zack. Information I couldn't find on my own. I'm sure you could find out something about this, about the other victims. Maybe there's a connection we aren't seeing." Max desperately pleaded with him. She wanted Logan on her side, helping her, and believing the things that she did. She just couldn't take it if he didn't help her.

"Try to be realistic Max, the sector police have been looking for this guy for the past six months."

"They don't have an X5, do they?" Max questioned honestly. "We're trained hunters."

Logan stayed slightly, in part of Max's comment and the fear he might never find her parent's killer.

"Can't we at least try?" Max narrowed her eyebrows concerning. "I could never forgive myself if we at least didn't try."

Logan couldn't say different.

"We'll try. We'll try Max."

A breath escaped from Max's mouth and she knew that the man sitting across from her would do anything and everything for her.

"Thank you."

* * *

Logan printed the last picture to their bulletin board. Max insisted that she was going to do this organized and precise, just as Manticore trained her to do. He had seen Max's room and backpack, organized she was not. However, seeing her so professional and detailed just astonished him. Then, he realized they were tracking a killer. Maybe if it had been a little different, both of them might have been impressed.

Logan pressed a thumbtack in Theo's picture next to Jacinda's. Max tried not to look fazed by the pictures, but in reality, seeing their faces without all the blood was even more painful than she thought it would be.

Twelve pictures hung on the wide bulletin board, however, Max knew that the real number had been thirteen. Baby Omar.

Taking a sobering breath in, she stood back, looking into the eyes of each victim.

"There has to be a connection that we don't see." Max swallowed before turning away from the board. "Except from living in Seattle, there isn't one. Theo was a bike messenger. Number ten was a teacher. Number nine was a butcher. It seems completely random."

Logan brought up his chin. "What if it is?"

Max couldn't believe all these murders continued to be completely random and unplanned. There was a connection, Max just couldn't place it.

When the doorbell rang, Max jumped slightly. She immediately brought the board down from its easel and hid it away in Logan's workroom. At first, Max thought it might have been Kendra or Sketchy, but when a voice she had never heard began to sound through the door, curiosity flowed through her. Her voice was light and airy, and from a woman more mature and sophisticated than she. Max peered through the crack of the sliding doors and saw the familiar redhead appear in the by the door as Logan opened it.

"Here's your mail." She shoved the mail into Logan's hand as he swung the door wide.

"Valerie?"

She stood, her jacket in her hand and waited for Logan to allow her in. Logan kept his feet firmly planted on the ground, not letting the redhead attempt to take one step into his apartment.

"I'm here for some of my things."

"Finally remembered them?" Logan cruelly quipped. She rolled her eyes and Max observed the smudged eyeliner. She either must have gotten up very late or slept with the makeup that she wore, Max assumed. She was good at hiding her addiction because Max couldn't tell that she had a problem, but Max knew she was conflicted by the divorce. She wore it on her face by the makeup she piled on. Hiding from the truth, Max figured. She sympathized. She rather look into a mirror at a stranger than herself and face the truth if she was her. Sometimes she felt that way regardless.

"Please?" She said tiredly.

"I threw them out. I thought if you hadn't come back from them by now you must have not wanted them." Logan truthfully told her. In fact, he had to get rid of them, especially with Max around. He couldn't let her stay in a room filled with his ex-wife's (or soon to be) belongings. He couldn't allow her to see the things that belonged to a woman he no longer loved, especially with a woman he did love now, even if he didn't admit it to himself.

"How could you do that?" She began to raise her voice. She took one scowling glance before she pushed the door open and walked pass the door. Her heels clicked on the floor as she the workroom and began turning towards the living room.

"Valerie!" Logan called after her. "Valerie, get out!"

Max turned stepped carefully from the workroom and around the hall to see Valerie rummaging through the living room. Logan didn't know what to do except persuade her with words to leave. Max, on the other hand, could persuade her with her fist. Logan suddenly swallowed with a bit of fear. Oh, no.

Max stood next to Logan, watching Valerie with a misunderstanding glance.

When Valerie popped her head up, Max was only waiting for her expression.

Oh, no is right, Logan thought.

Instead of making Max go to room, he let her stay because subconsciously he wanted to see a fight, and he knew his ex-wife was no match for Max.

"Who are you?" Was all that Valerie could ask as she brought her red hair behind her ear with her fingers. The woman sized up the girl. She had to be no older than of legal age, and that was doubtful. The girl had rather long curly hair that fell down her shoulders. Her complexion was too dark to ever compare to Logan's family. If she was a teenager, a pretty teenager unrelated to Logan, what was she doing in his apartment? Barefoot? It was obvious she had been making Valerie's home her home, which didn't exactly please her that much.

"Who are you?" Max quipped back, putting her hands on her waist and raising an eyebrow.

Valerie stood up from the couch and gave the girl a peculiar look. "I'm Logan's wife."

Max lifted her head and smiled. "Well, it's nice to meet you."

Valerie forced an equally friendly smile onto her face when she took Max's hand and shook it.

Logan blinked. He was expecting claws to come out and hair being pulled. This, was in other words, was disappointing.

"I wish we could have met in better circumstances, though." Max told her, letting go of Valerie's hand.

"Who are you again?" Valerie asked, her eyes narrowing in curiosity.

"I'm Max." She said with a glowing face. Valerie watched her as she put on this bubbly gloat and jumped on her toes in excitement. "I really need to get some of my work done, it was nice meeting you, I hope we can see each other again during a better time." Max smiled and pressed the sincerity too far. "Call me when lunch is ready, alright."

It didn't take a kiss or an overwhelming attitude to get Valerie upset. It was that simple glance Logan shot Max, those beautiful eyes that once had been hers began to showering affection all over the young woman. Valerie watched as Logan smiled boyishly before watching Max walk to the guest room.

She was living in her house!

"Who the hell was that?" She asked.

"Val, I really think that's none of your business." Logan told her.

"It is my business, I'm your wife." Valerie argued.

"Ex-wife." Logan reminded her. "I really think you need to leave now."

Without argument, she left. She knew she gotten quite more than she wanted.

Logan waited until he heard the door slam before he pounced to Max's room. Usually he would knock, but not after the excitement that shot up through him with the same glee he exhibited on his sixteenth birthday. Max was waiting for him, smiling. Logan only took one look at the professional before laughing.

"God, I love you."

Then, silence.

Max's eyes went wide. She didn't seem shocked, but perhaps slightly awkward. She was arguing if it had been a figure of speech or perhaps the long awaited confession. Either way, Logan just played it off.

"Well, you know."

"Yeah," Max shifted uncomfortably, brushing him off with a fake smile.

It was Logan's smile that nearly killed her. She wanted him to mean it.

But then, Theo and Jacinda's murders went through her mind. It wasn't the time or the place. Maybe love was something not in the books for her. Maybe all they had was a friendship, a parental support that Max lacked, and possibly the father figure she always wanted.

"If she's really giving you a hard time, she can have a very unfortunate accident." Max offered seriously.

"I'll keep it in mind." Max smiled, knowing Logan had taken it somewhat humorously when she had been partly serious. Logan swallowed, narrowing his eyes. "Um…would you…like to know why we're getting a divorce?" He asked.

Max pressed her lips together.

"Okay…"

After all, even ordinaries not on the run need someone to talk too.

* * *

TBC 


	14. The General's Daughter

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, it meant a lot. I choose to withdraw my application to FIT just because I knew I didn't want to go into fashion. It was a hard choice, but you know, life sucks at times, so fanfiction had been my escape. Sometimes I wish more horrible things would happen to me because I end up writing some excellent chapters. Hope you like it. :D

**Fourteen - The General's Daughter**

Max came back for her things in her locker, mostly the bottle of tryptophan she desperately needed that morning. She was too proud to admit her seizures to Logan. She wanted to tell him, but instead stuck the majority of it in the bathroom. Though, she knew later on she would have to get her extra stash in her locker.

As she walked down the dim hallway she took a look behind her shoulder before returning back to her path.

Max found her locker and unlocked the combination. She squeezed the top edge out before she forced the stuck iron door open. The rusty hinges creaked loudly as she lifted her textbooks up and found the bottle of pills at the bottom of her locker. The shakes rattled her but she opened the bottle and downed two pills before she tried to control her body again. It would be the beginning of another bad patch. She always thought when she would go weeks or a month without one, she perhaps miraculously she grew out of them.

Things never got better, they always got worse.

Closing the locker, she saw a figure emerging from the dark. The area was somewhat lit and if it had been completely dark her night vision would identify the figure, instead, it remained faceless.

The feeling something was wrong couldn't be shook that easily for a reason.

* * *

It waited. It sought it's pray out and did it successfully.

She was beautiful. Everything it was supposed to be but was denied. It might not be as smart as it's prey, but it was quicker and stronger, and _it_ knew it. It took a lot of strength and quickness to find it's way to each of its prey. The cycle was almost complete and it knew she only had days before it was found.

It had to happen now.

But, she wasn't the one.

* * *

"Guevara!"

Max swallowed in relief when the General came from the shadows. She automatically pocketed the pills before slamming her locker close. She shouldn't have been so paranoid. Call her an agoraphobic, but, there was a part of her that wanted to run back to Logan's apartment and never leave. She was always afraid of coming home and discovering another slaughtered body.

If Logan died, she didn't know what she would do.

"General." Max spoke when she turned around. "I was just picking up some of my things."

The General looked rather disappointed when he heard. "Are you planning on not coming back?"

Max shifted uncomfortably, unsure at the present time if she would ever come back. "For right now." Max itched the back of her hair as she stood to face him.

The General sighed. "I wish you could reconsider. I know things are difficult, I understand, but it would be best if you came back to school. At least try."

Max licked her lips and then pressed them together. There was part of her that wanted to go back to school, not just for the General, but for Logan too. She wanted him to be proud, but she still couldn't think about going back to school. It was rubbing down to her bone that she had no exact reason to stay except for Logan. She really wanted a reason for herself and not for anyone else.

"I'll come back when I'm ready."

The General narrowed his eyes. "What have you been doing lately?" He asked curiously.

"I haven't been doing much." Max replied honestly. Her eyes darkened as she tore her eyes from his and began to think about Theo and Jacinda. "I keep replaying that night over and over again. I keep thinking I've missed something, a clue or a shred of evidence." Max stopped herself, looking at the General with embarrassment.

His heart broke and tried not to show it, but Max grew up around those types. She could see the slight change of his eyes, the nervous tick, and the tense muscles. "It isn't your fault." The General said.

Max would have told him different, that if she had been there she could have stopped it. He wouldn't understand, no matter how hard if she tried to explain it. She was close to, close enough to tell him all the reasons she had been troubled.

"I have to go." Max avoided his eyes and found the door at the end of the hall.

Escape.

"Come to my office for a second, there's…something I have to show you."

Max swallowed harshly before nodding in agreement. The General opened his door and she entered the familiar office. It had pictures of his time in service, pictures of troops that he lead, and a wall of pictures of recent graduates. Max felt awkward as the relics of a past life haunted her as well as him. They almost meant nothing to him anymore. The pictures were to stir some pride in his past, but the office remained lifeless except the wall full of pictures of his favorite students.

Max stood by the portrait of him in uniform, decorated with his awards and metals. "What made you leave top rank?" Max quipped, pushing her hands in her leather jacket.

The General shifted uncomfortably, looking away into the distance. "What are the rumors?"

Max narrowed her eyes humorously. "Well, there are quite a few, but no answers."

"I use to run Fort Knox before the Japanese bought the bouillon and used the base as their own financial bank. My work was everything to me, my troops, my men…"

Max raised her eyebrow. "No women?"

The General smiled, his face lightening a bit at her sarcasm. "There was one girl."

Max smiled, nodding. "Ah, I see."

He laughed, shaking his head. "No, Max, it wasn't like that." Max turned around from the picture, facing the General with a questioning eye. "She was my daughter."

"You're daughter was in your unit…"

Again, the General shook his head. "No, she lived on the base with me. Her mother…my wife died in a car accident. She went…out of control. I couldn't see that it was a cry for help. I couldn't see that all she wanted was for me to care more about her than my position."

"I kicked her out. I shouldn't have done so, but…the third arrest was more than reason to. She left, stubborn and angry. She would do anything to get me back for what I did to her. I blame myself everyday for not paying attention, for not loving her for who she was and not who I wanted her to be."

Max listened, watching as he recalled memories he often hid away. Curiosity got to her and she couldn't help but listen attentively, trying to piece together his past. Max took another deep breath, trying to figure out why exactly he was discussing this with her. The story seemed like another awful story and she was going to roll her eyes if he said that he was reminded her by Max.

"She went missing and I searched everywhere for her. It wasn't until she was gone that I realized that what a mistake I made, how I should have taken care of her, and how I should have paid attention." The General began to regret with great pain. He ran his hand over his aging white skin and shook his head from the mistakes he made. "She called me nearly a year later, saying she was in trouble and she needed my help. She was pregnant…"

Max felt tingling at her fingertips. Her eyes darkened, looking at him with sympathy. She knew the story wasn't going to end happily. She doubted if Jacinda and Theo weren't dead that he would be opening to her. She was put in an awful position; she would have to stay and listen, maybe even witness him cry, god forbid. But there was something wrong…something different that she couldn't place, like before.

"She had lived on streets. She was starving and too stubborn to call home. She found someone that was willing to pay her enough money, a warm place to live, three square meals a day, only if she would give her unborn child to them…she agreed."

Max blinked as the story hit a little too close to home. She could feel the blood running from her face as it paled.

"She wanted out. She changed her mind and wanted the baby. But by the time I could help her it was too late. When the baby came to term they induced and they got rid of her. I found her, years later. She wasn't the same, Max. No one could be the same after that. She told me about the baby. That…" The General licked his lips as his voice became more desperate. "The baby was special. I promised her I would find her daughter for her. I promised. She's been dead for nearly ten years but I kept that promise Max."

Max pressed her lips together as her eyes looked up. Her heart raced so fast that she began to feel slightly faint. She couldn't imagine being anymore scared than she was there. Her first memories flashed before her eyes, but she always was searching for an earlier memory. A memory where she saw her mother. It never existed.

"She told me about the barcodes."

Max shook her head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Max turned to the door and slammed it open. It felt like her chest was crushing her more and more. Everything began to spin around her and the only thing that stopped her from letting her knees give in was the escape in front of her. She was so close, she could open those doors and run from the reality and into the world she made for herself.

"Max, I know that baby was you. I've been searching for you for almost everyday of your life. I lost everything but I knew I would gain so much more if I found you."

Max gasped for air as the door seemed farther and farther away. "I recruited men that transferred from any Wyoming base. I found out that these children that were taken from their mothers were genetically engineered to be a better soldier than any human could be. Then I found out that they escaped in '09. A select few. These few suffered from a rare form of epilepsy. The pills in your locker…"

Max didn't stop walking when she approached the door. She was tired of people knowing about her and never speaking a word of who she really was. It even scared her. If they knew so much, why hadn't Lydecker found her already?

"I searched for girls at a certain age through social service databases, hoping to get something off of you. Everything was lost from the pulse, but three years ago a Jacinda Guevara petitioned for state aid for a girl they took in, a girl with epilepsy."

Max shook her head and instead of denying it like she should have, she only questioned him. "There were twelve other girls in my unit, twenty four in all. It could be any of them!"

"My daughter was the last of the X5 unit. You're the same age that her daughter would have been."

Max just kept walking. "Yes, and what about the other units?"

"My daughter was given a number for clarification. Surrogate #12-452."

Max nearly stopped as her stomach swirled. Unit 12, Soldier 452. People might know who she was but no one knew her designation. It was something highly personal, only something her siblings and TAC leaders knew. She couldn't even think about telling Logan her number. It stood for everything she loved and hated, it was everything she was and everything she didn't want to be.

"That's your number isn't it?"

The tears ran freely, unable to hide it anymore. The General took the silence as an answer. He stopped her by holding onto her shoulders and stepping in front of her. He witnessed her crushed face but she was smart enough to whip the tears away. She wouldn't cry, not anymore.

"I never wanted to find her. I made her into this monster only to protect myself." She looked up, apologetic that she would ever think of his daughter—her surrogate mother that way. "Because I didn't want to be hurt when I found out the worst, that perhaps…she didn't love me."

The General held onto her shoulders tightly before wrapping his arms around her. "She loved you. She loved you every single day until her death. I promised her I would find you and tell you how much she loved you."

Max didn't know what to do in the embrace by someone who she thought of as a distant pain. He had always known that she was his daughter's baby and always looked over her. He was always concern about her, sending her parents notes home and always knowing what she got on her tests. She should have known his concern was unusual, but she didn't know anything about parental concern. She didn't know that she could ever met some of her real human family.

As Max held onto him tightly, she felt a cold hand grab her around her neck. She took a deep breath when she was torn from the General. She saw the look of horror on his face when the arm quickly wrapped around her neck. Max couldn't breath and even when she tried to struggle, the strength of the person behind her was too strong.

"Max…"

The General ran to protect her but it was only a few seconds before Max blacked out.

One thing she could think of before she drifted into darkness was just when she found everything, it was already lost.

* * *

A/N2: I didn't plan on the General having any connection to Max or Manticore, I just wanted there to be a contrast to the military training she had as a child and the fact that she could never truly escape it. But, I knew I sort of couldn't let him just hang there, there had to be a twist. I hope people or satisfied with it, that they weren't really expecting it, or perhaps it's possible...sort of. :D

TBC


	15. Realizations

A/N: Ah, a new chapter, you must be very excited! I'm so so sorry it took nearly two weeks before I could post another chapter. It might have been even three weeks, I'm not sure. I took a little sabatical, just to refresh myself since I was getting quite bored with it and I didn't want to put any of you through any forced out words. I want to be excited to write this story and now I am. Though, I'm planning to get this story to an end in four or five more chapters...hopefully. Knowing me it will be another ten before I get to the end.

**Chapter Fifteen - Realizations**

The realization didn't hit him hard. He didn't feel a horrible twist in his stomach when he thought those three simple words. He expected his life to be turned upside down when he finally admitted that he loved Max. That, he loved her in a special way, the way he first loved Valerie and possibly even more. All he could see was that young face looking at him with hope, admiration, and understanding.

After years of being stepped on, for the first time Logan was going to get what he wanted.

"Your honor, my client seeks at least one half of Mr. Cale's assets."

Logan sat back in his chair totally enthralled with the thought of Max. He had this new passion inside of him now and it was burning brighter than it ever had. The moment he met her all he could think about was how lovely she was and how much he wanted to make that misery stricken face happy. Sitting in that courtroom he realized it was fate that brought the two together and it even struck harder to make them realized they belonged to each other.

"You do realize that it was your client that was caught in fidelity that ended the marriage?" Peter inquired sarcastically as he stood up from his chair.

"My client understand the consequences of her actions and attempted to settle the rift with Mr. Cale several times."

Logan took out the vibrating phone from his pocket and saw the call ID. Max. He smiled before putting back into his pocket. Logan would wait until the hearing ended before he called her. He wanted to make sure there were no more obstacles, and then they could go to dinner like the both planned.

After another hour of argumenting, Logan had it. He wasn't going to sit there and be blamed or argue over unimportant material goods. He wanted Valerie out of his life for good. He wanted Max, and only Max.

"Give her what she want." Logan bowed his head, exhausted from the nitpicking over the cabin or whatever Valerie wanted.

There was a silence before Peter questioned him. He was in it to win but if all of that could be settled earlier the better. "Logan, you're sure?"

Logan raised his head and saw the Judge raising his back from the chair, leaning closer to confirm what he had just heard. "You realize what that means, Mr. Cale?"

Logan nodded at Peter before giving a firm nod in the direction of the Judge. "Yes, your Honor. What ever my ex-wife listed in her demands, I'll give her. I just want this over with."

Valerie's mouth hung open, in complete shock. She never assumed Logan would give into her demands. He had always been a doormat to her, so easy to sway and bend for her own amusement. Instead, she was quite amazed for the reasons why, and she did knew why. It was all because of that teenage trophy in his apartment. Jealousy was unbecoming to her, especially when she, a thirty-one year old, was competing with an eighteen-year-old.

After Logan heard the hammer striking dismissal, he got out of his chair and felt a weight lift off his shoulders.

As Peter and Logan exited the room, he patted the younger man on the back. "Are you sure about this, Logan?" Peter asked concerning.

"Too late to go back." Logan shrugged. "All those things don't matter. I'll regain everything I lost in a matter of years, maybe sooner the way Cale Industries has been going." Logan smiled optimistically.

Peter gave him an uneasy glare. "Are…you…feeling alright?"

"I'm actually fantastic. Valerie will sign the divorce agreement and I'll be finally done with all this legal nonsense." Logan returned the pat on the back with one on his shoulders.

Peter narrowed his eyes before coming to the realization he should have thought sooner. "Ah, I see. You've met someone?"

He paused at first but became excited just to able to share in complete honesty. "She's different. Special."

Peter only laughed. "Aren't they all?"

* * *

Max got onto her knees before taking the cell phone from the back pocket of her jeans. Her fingers slide over the buttons before she grabbed Logan's number on speed-dial. The constant ringing tested her patience. She wasn't into waiting when she actually felt the slightest fear settle in her bones. 

"Pick up the damn phone Logan!" She cursed before the voice mail picked up. She waited through Logan's calm voice before she took a ragged breath and exhaled. "Logan, pick up the goddamn phone!"

Shutting the phone closed, she stood up from the gravel and surveyed the area. Her mind was racing. She couldn't digest everything that had happened so fast. Max couldn't imagine the man that had handed her detention slips was searching for her since she was born. He had admitted the raw truth of her surrogate mother, and even if they weren't genetically related, she couldn't help the connection she had to woman who brought her into this world. Pushing her emotions aside, she still felt fear lurk just as her enemy did. She couldn't breathe when she realized that someone stronger than her had put her down. Humorously, she was just waiting for Lydecker to jump out of the bushes and tell her what a horrible soldier she was.

Max knew they couldn't have gone far. Her photographic memory began to place each car she saw before and after her unconsciousness. However, she couldn't hear anything. Swearing, she looked around and with her sensitive eyes she saw a patch of forest past the soccer field. She began to run (perhaps too fast for human witnesses) and felt the vibration in her back pocket of her jeans. She grabbed it and brought it against her ear.

"Max!"

"Where were you?" Max stopped herself. The hearing with Valerie.

The sound of gravel lessened when she began to slow down her pace. Just as she decreased her speed, something clicked in her head.

_**Balkan War.**_

_**Theo.**_

_**The General.**_

_**Soldiers.**_

Her mouth went slightly dry. What if…this was the murderer?

"Logan, Theo was a Balkan war veteran. Maybe other victims served in the war?"

"You think that's the connection?" Logan asked. Max waited impatiently, wondering if he could be slightly faster. She could hear Logan's breath changed as he spoke over the phone. "Give me a second, my computer's in the car."

A minute later Logan found the answers.

"All victims had served either in the military assisting the Balkan war crisis or had been shipped off. Victim two, Cynthia Stewart, had been a nurse to radiation patients. Victim seven, Kenneth Margolis had been an airborne ranger, exposed to the radiation when he sent his troops into unidentified field. The list keeps going…"

Max felt her body propel her faster as she gained the information on her target. "And the General?"

Logan paused. "The General? Mr. Matthews…the General?"

"Logan, did he serve in the Balkan War?" Max repeated on the phone.

She waited as she approached the brush of the forest. She never paid attention to the greenery around the school. But, she had no idea that it was apart of one of the vast forests around Seattle edge. She was positive people must have brought their secrets to bury. She just never expected she would ever have to dig them up for them.

"Max, he was chief commander of the war back in '07."

Max knew for sure that she found her connection. "Logan, I think the killer is after Balkan War veterans. Now he has the highest ranked officer, probably wants to finishing him off."

"Max, what are you talking about?"

"The guy brought me down and took the General."

Logan took a deep breath over the phone. "Who? What do you mean he brought you down?"

"I was talking to the General outside of the school. Suddenly I was down on the ground. Son of bitch gave me a crooked neck." She squinted when she rotated her neck onto her shoulder.

She could hear the panic set into Logan as he began to breathe heavily into the receiver. "Max, get home now."

Max objected. "He needs my help."

"You're not safe if you get hurt. It's not like I can take you to the emergency room."

"I'm fine." Max told him. "I wasn't expecting Manticore to be right behind me."

"Manticore?" Logan questioned. "It couldn't…"

"It's gotta be." Max shook her head. "No human could just take me down so quickly."

"Where are you?"

Max stepped on a branch and looked around. She allowed all her senses tune in with the environment around her. Something shook her spine with shivers when she turned her back and entered the forest.

"I'll call you back."

She hung up the phone and automatically she smelled the feral scent of animals. Old childhood memories flashed in her head, so vivid and strong that her eyes rolled into her head as the growls of inhuman prisoners voiced their toture to her ears.

_The Colonel sends the weakest soldier to the basement, so you all have to be strong. Be strong and the Blue Lady will protect you._

Max smelled that horrible stench before.

She remembered the coldness of the basement and the scent of science projects gone arride.

It was an anomaly.

* * *

A small chapter to get prepared for the next. :D 

TBC


	16. Feral

**Chapter Sixteen - Feral**

Max never camped. She refused to. She spent way too much time as a child surviving in the wilderness. Perhaps she wasn't the most feminine or pampered female in the world, but she smiled upon showers, household heating, and microwaves way too much to go camping. However, she was way too paranoid to pay attention the automatic complaints sounding in her head. The soldier took over again. All she needed to hear is the echo of guns firing and she could have sworn she was back in Wyoming.

The smell was getting stronger as she made her way down the steep hill. She could see leaves brushed aside as a body was dragged. She kept on the track with those important animal instincts she was gifted with. She didn't know why she was being lead to, but she kept on the trail, only with the possibly to catch up.

There was a sound of a fire blazing, possibly a half a mile away. She could smell the smoke in the air as she stopped to observe. She pounced into a running speed as the smell grew stronger and stronger as did the feral smell.

She slowed down as she approached the camp. She saw the fire blazing and her eyes automatically involuntary focused out of night-vision. The stench was nearly horrible, possibly natures way of telling her that the unusual species in front of her was not like her own unit. Unable to deceive.

Her heart jumped when she saw the General unconscious, lying next to the fire. It was only the sight of the murder that she grimaced and partially glared shockingly. The long black hair was matted and out of control. Its skin was discolored, with slight patches of fur colored in calico. But as she lifted it's head to the enemy standing a few yards away, that's when Max flinched.

It was herself. Older, but still her.

"X5, come." It beckoned, her fingers curling into an inviting bid.

It spoke. She could remember the basement filled with X-2s. She couldn't remember one single vowel escaping their mouths. Instead they growled in nightmarish tones that tormented her unit as children.

"You can speak." Max lifted her head, eyeing her enemy with surprise.

"Language happens to be one of my strengths." The voice, it was a harsh whisper and unlike her own. This couldn't be her. The anomaly had the same features, except for the color of her eyes. Those weren't hers. They were deep red with a pupil bigger than any normal human. Perhaps that's why she lurked in darkness. Daytime was too dangerous and painful for it's eyes.

"And slaughtering people too? You killed my parents." Max quipped back.

The anomaly looked insulted. "You have no parents." She brushed her comment away and shrugged. "They needed to die for what they caused. Especially the General."

"Caused?" Max narrowed her eyes. "The Balkan War?"

"Years ago, I resembled a face like yours, normal skin like any human, a mind tact and useful. They struck gold with us X3s and as a test, we were sent into to see what us adolescent soldiers could do. We went as soldiers into enemy territory, but we knew the risks and we were prepared. But we never could be prepared for the mistakes these men made. They lead my unit into contaminated territory knowingly. It was a suicide mission to begin with. To them, we were expendable. The contamination ruined my unit…ruined my skin. They have to pay for what they did to my unit."

"I'm not going to let you hurt him." Max told her.

The X3 stood back and smiled. "This is quite the night."

"It's been a while since I've gone to the sparring mat, so take it easy would you?" Max quipped, and in one swift movement, she jumped. She leaped through the air and before she realized, the X3 moved out of the way. Max landed hard on the ground but regained her balance by flipping onto her toes and putting her fist in front of her determined eyes.

"You X5s, too human for your own good." The X3 brought her long nails up towards her face and hissed before she pounced, slicing Max's cheek. Max hissed before kicking the X3 nearly five feet. It growled when it's back hit against a tree trunk with such a force to break a few ribs.

"There's a reason why you're an older class and I'm a newer."

The X3 had enough with the unusual banter, she got on her feet and attacked the X5 with all the strength she had. Max, on the other hand, was ready. The X3 was strong compared to a normal human, but its strength could not compare against an X5. She might have been prematurely terminated her training at Manticore, but she fought too much with her brothers and sisters to forget the strength she had been able to win.

Max jumped up and pressed both of her feet into the X3's chest, cracking a few more ribs.

"You know," Max said when the X3 collapsed with her lung punctured, "Calcium would have helped in this case."

The X3 rolled onto its stomach. "C'mon, don't you know when to quit?"

There was a slight movement yards away. She saw the beams of a flashlight and instinctively thought the forest enemy territory. When he came out of the shrubs, Max saw the determined face of Logan trying to search for her. She smiled, knowing he was either quite brave or stupid to be searching for her alone in the forest.

"Max?"

It only took a second for the X3 to take the distraction to its advantage. The X3 raised its leg to Max's stomach, kicking her gut so powerfully that she lost her breath. She gasped before the X3 jumped onto its feet and prepared to end this X5's life once and for all.

"Max!" Logan shouted.

With amazed eyes, Logan watched as Max flipped through the air to land right behind the monster. She pushed the X3 so far with her most powerful high kick that it began to back step further and further. All Max could see as she regained her balance was the X3 falling backwards. Then suddenly, a morbid crack as the X3 was impaled with a sharp edge of a cracked stump. It took seconds before its eyes rolled up in the back of its head and went limp.

Max took a deep breath. She was confident it was all over, that her parents could finally rest in peace.

"Max! Are you okay?" Logan asked as he stepped carefully down the hill and came to Max's side. He saw the blood pouring freely from the deep cuts on her cheek. His hand automatically came to her chin, lifting her head up towards him. Max felt faint, the mix of disappearing adrenaline and strength took its toll with Logan look into her eyes and touched her. At that moment, she wanted to kiss him. But the soldier in her snapped out of it.

"I'm fine," Max shook her head, ignoring his concern. It was the General that needed the concern.

"What the hell was that?" Logan asked, facing the dead body.

"That, Mr. Cale," Max said before turning to the unconscious General, "was an X3."

Logan's mouth went wide before Max stepped over to the General. She gratefully found a pulse when she lifted her fingers at the side of his neck. She stood up slightly before taking his one arm and slumping pulling his body over his shoulder. She didn't know how long she could carry him, but she knew it wouldn't be that long. She might have been an X5, but she wasn't Hercules.

"Let's get out of here." Max said.

Logan had absolutely no objections.

* * *

"You have no idea what could have been under that thing's nails. You need to disinfect this." 

Max grunted when she sat on the stool in the kitchen and Logan began to pour the disinfectant into a small bottle. She knew from experience that it was going to sting, but she wasn't going to be a baby, not now. It didn't mean she was going to be difficult.

"C'mon." Logan coaxed her before she turned her cheek towards him. "It's pretty deep." He observed in the light, seeing the small specs of dirt here and there. "It needs to be cleaned."

Max shifted the pack of frozen peas on her abdomen to a new sore spot as Logan began to whip the dirt away with a wet cotton ball. Max looked over to the unconscious General, she nearly forgot what a chokehold could do to a human if left without oxygen too long. She, on the other hand could go without it. She just wished she could when she was around Logan.

"Do you think that my surrogate might have cared for me?" Max asked, narrowing her eyes.

Logan paused for a second before returning to her gashes. "I doubt any of those girls knew what they were getting into."

"Really, Logan?" Max asked again.

Logan threw away the dirty cotton ball and brought out a new one. "I couldn't imagine your surrogate not becoming attached to you." Logan dipped the cotton ball in disinfectant and brought it up to her cheek, "what brought out this question, I thought you didn't care about your surrogate."

"With good reason." Max told him. She paused as the stinging began. "It seems the General and I are much more connected than I would like to believe."

Logan stopped and took a step back to see Max's serious reaction. Logan began to think the worst. "He's Manticore, isn't he?"

Max shook his head. "I don't think so. But his daughter was." Max's eyes connected with his and gave a dark glare.

It took only seconds before Logan connected the dots.

"His daughter was a surrogate."

"My surrogate," Max corrected.

Logan shook his head, stepping back slightly. "You can't possibly assume she was."

"After she brought me to term they put her in some crack-job facility. She basically died there from all the genetic treatments they put her though." Max told him, and then she took a long pause before she confessed. "Her number was 12-452."

Logan took a deep breath, accepting the possibility that his daughter was Max's surrogate. "That's your number." Logan assumed.

Max nodded. "12 was my unit."

"Okay, rhetorically if this was true-"

"It's possible that it is." Max told him.

"Right, if it was possible, how does he know all of this? Know her number? Know_ your _number? That's such a coincidence that he happened to be at the same school you applied for."

Max agreed. "I know, but think about it. Manticore didn't want just another whore from the street corner, what about military personnel being part of the project? What if it happened to be his kid? Then what happens when she doesn't want to go through with it? Who does she call? The General. He finds out about these things…"

Logan stopped, realizing that everything Max had explained held some type of substance of truth. It could explain his protectiveness over her, the desire for her to do better, and the wanting of her to be safe in his care.

"The question is, why does it matter so much? We're not even genetically related." Max uncomfortably shifted again, moving the bag of frozen vegetables away from her stomach.

Logan softly stared into her eyes. "Genetics has nothing to do with family. He wants what was taken away from him. Maybe he wants what his daughter was willing to die for."

Max sat uneasy at Logan's words. There was slight moment that was only loud enough for Max's sensitive ears. Max rose from the chair and made her way towards the living room. She saw the General sit up from the couch, touching his head with the same pain of a normal hangover.

"Are you okay?" Max asked.

The General looked up from his hands and saw the gashes across Max's face. He shook his head, "Am I okay?" He gave a slight laugh before his concerned eyes washed over her. "What did you get yourself into?" He asked with authority unwilling to dismiss even in his weak state.

"Everything's fine now. I took care of the situation." Max said darkly.

He pressed his lips together. "Like they trained you to, right?"

Max didn't answer, she just sat back against the chair near the couch. The General look up and saw Logan by the door. It took a moment to realize why the Cale boy was so concerned and protective over Max as he was but it hit him as hard as bricks when he realized it. "You know who Max is, that's why you took her in."

Max pressed her lips together, looking at Logan and then the General. "Yes, he knows. We…were friends before he became a teacher." Max told him. It was partially the truth, though.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Max." The General said.

Max blinked, thinking of what to ask. She imagined this moment, a day when she would be able to get any answer she wanted. Suddenly, she was clueless. She didn't know what to ask, and now, she didn't even know if she wanted the answer anymore.

She took one step at a time. "Do you…have a picture of her?" Max asked.

The General looked at her before he went to his wallet. Taking out a small yellowed picture, Max took the wallet sized photograph in her hands. She immediately felt a connection with the woman in the picture. She might not have been the spitting image of her, she saw likeness that she was foolish enough to think of her own. She saw the curly black hair and the dark complexion, her face and lips were thinner, and her eyes were a different color and shape. But, she saw kindness in her eyes.

Maybe her mother loved her after all.

* * *

She took a drink of the wine and realized how much she missed a vintage wine. It reminded her of better times, when he father still loved her for who she was, when she was happy and alive. It was so hard putting the glass down when she felt so badly without it. 

"500 now, another 500 when I have my pictures."

"Consider it done."

She parted her hair back, looking at the man with an appitite of a pig. "Good pictures, Mr. Vogelsang, or I'll be expecting a refund."

"You think I'm a beginner? Don't sweat it, I've done this before with hundreds of other cheating spouces. I'll nail him, in the act, I swear."

She slipped him the envelope after finishing her glass of wine. Automatically she knew she was picking up another bottle on her way home.

* * *

TBC 


End file.
